Evenki Shaman's Costume

garment · Russia (Siberia) · Asia

Ceremonial cloak of the Evenki shaman, sewn from reindeer hide and hung with iron pendants shaped as birds, fish, deer, snakes and human figures that represent the shaman's spirit-helpers, with a fringed apron and iron rattles. The costume is preserved in the collections of the Russian Museum of Ethnography and Siberian regional museums. Each pendant is forged to correspond to a spirit that the shaman called upon, and their number and variety grew with the shaman's rank and experience. The cloak is worn over the ordinary clothes with an apron and a headdress, and the iron objects ring together

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