Keeping the milk grace: Birch bark objects from the collection of the National Fine Arts Museum of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

Abstract

In the collection of the National Fine Arts Museum of the Republic of Sakha (Yakuita), birch bark items, made in accordance with the canons and artistic style, are a bright indicator of the material and spiritual culture of the Yakuts. The article presents the typology of birch bark objects from the Museum's collection by the method of manufacturing and decoration, analyzes the technique, the complex of expressive means and their symbolic meaning. According to Yakut beliefs, birch was a sacred tree of the deities of the Upper World, protecting a person from the actions of dark forces and diseases. Therefore, the objects of birch bark, in addition to utilitarian purposes, had important cult significance, an eternal meaning. Archaic style and technique are preserved in birch bark objects of the 20th – early 21st century, demonstrating the indivisibility of the old and the new. Each craftswoman, expressing a spiritual attitude towards nature, turns to a huge cultural stratum, using the centuries-old selection of forms, ornaments, and technological methods that keep endless possibilities. Infinitely reviving in a variety of creative options, this phenomenon demonstrates unity in the traditional course of the Yakut plastics.