Choron (Yakut Kumys Vessel)
Carved wooden drinking vessel of the Yakut (Sakha) people, made from a single piece of birch or spruce burl, with a conical or rounded body and short legs. The choron is the principal ritual vessel of the ysyakh summer festival, filled with kumys and offered in honour of the aiyy deities, then shared among the celebrants; its elegant form is held to resemble a bird. The body swells gently from a small mouth and stands on three or four short carved legs, and the outer surface is often engraved with bands of geometric ornament. At the festival the first choron of kumys is raised to the sky and p