In December 2025 we presented "Shamanic Masks from Siberia, the Far East, and the Russian North" for Terror Camp 2025. During our research, we found many fascinating pictures and unique information that we cannot keep to ourselves, and we want to share everything with the world.
This blog is about shamanism, shamans, and the indigenous peoples of Siberia, the Far East, and the Russian North, and about everything related to this topic. Expeditions of the early 20th century, collectors and their monographs, fun facts... Anything related to the subject may appear on this blog.
Our main sources of information are ethnographic research, books, memoirs, and extensive collections of photographs and artifacts from various museums.
We do not claim to know everything. This blog is about our discoveries and adventures, and we warmly welcome everyone who wishes to join us on this journey.
Let’s have fun together!
We have already shown you sehvens*, wooden idols meant to contain various spirits inside. Those sehvens were more like toys, small and zoomorphic. Now, let us show you another form of the sehven, whose name is Masi-Diuli.
In our presentation for Terror Camp we have shown a Nanai shaman and pointed to a small detail of her appearance, a nostril piercing. For some indigenous peoples of Russia (specifically, for the Nanai and the Udege) nostril piercings were regarded as a characteristic feature of female shamans and of women in common. But is this the only detail that we can extract from this photograph?
Not at all. Look at her closely. She is holding two wooden idols, which are no one else but sehvens. More precisely, they are Masi-Diuli sehvens, household spirits whose functions may be compared to Russian Domovoy, Scottish Brownie and Nordic Nisse. Masi-Diuli lives in households of the Nanai, the Ulchs and the Nivkhs.
This Nanai shaman is from The Kunstkamera collection.
Masi-Diuli sehvens were made exclusively from larch. The Larch, according to the Nanai people, was the tallest and strongest tree. A connection between all realms was established by this tree.
The Masi-Dyuli acted as protectors of the clan and family, and possessed divine powers. They were passed down from generation to generation, so the durability of the wood was of great importance. Masi-Diuli sehvens were coming from another group of sehvens called the Ayami. The Ayamis were personal protectors of shamans. After the natural death of the shaman, eyes were carved into Ayamis’ faces. And this is the way of their spiritual transformation to Masi-Diuli.
The Nanai prayed to Masi-Diuli on a yearly clan’s rituals. They asked for health, well-being and hunting luck. There was a tradition to treat the sehvens. They fed meat of local fishes (a sturgeon, a kaluga, a carp) and a greasy porridge. The Nanai put on their sehvens leather shoes believing that the sehven knows good hunting places and walks everywhere with their people.
Later, in Soviet time, belonging to any religion was strictly prohibited by a government. Trying to save their heritage, the Nanai people gifted their idols and other items to museums, hoping that researchers will be able to keep them safe. Nowadays, it is possible to find sehvens in the local museums of the Far East. And, luckily, in Nanai families, as they are trying to restore and retain their culture. Museum keepers respectfully treat sehvens protecting their rooms.
Tatiana, too, has a sehvens protecting her home. Despite not revealing their name,Tatiana is sure the spirit inside is a kind one.
Now, look at Masi-Diuli from different locations:
Nanai's Masi-Diuli idol from the collection of Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Novosibirsk.
Ulchs' Masi-Diuli idol from the same collection.
Masi-Diuli sehven from Solnechny Settlement (Khabarovsk Krai).
The Home Guard Sehvens of Ethnic Center "Sehven" (Khabarovsk). They are taller than a human.
*Please notice that we changed spelling for better one. The previous 'savan' now a 'sehven'.
Phew. What a damn year. Health (mine and family's) caused a handful of troubles, so let's hope things will get better. But at least I learned new things, including something I dreamed of doing.
Some figures are quite easy to recognize, while others are truly challenging! Here are the answers of who is who.
Brown Bear
Outer Manchuria (the Amur region of Russia, Приамурье), where the Nanai people live, is home to both the brown bear and the Asian black bear (also known as the moon bear or white-chested bear). However, Nanai bear savans were traditionally dedicated specifically to the brown bear.
Leopard
More precisely, this figure represents the Amur leopard, native to the Russian Far East and northern China. A beautiful specie!
When Joe made their guess, they thought it was a snow leopard, which actually lives in Central Asia.
Tiger
This is the Siberian (Amur) tiger, which inhabits the Russian Far East, northern China, and possibly the Korean Peninsula. Today, its population is concentrated mainly in the Sikhote-Alin mountain region of the Far East. Do not confuse Sikhote-Alin with Sikachi-Alyan! The latter is a famous petroglyph site.
And a small spoiler: one shamanic costume in our collection is decorated with tiger savans! We will definitely show it later.
Reindeer
But which reindeer?
There are two certain species live in the Far East. They are a caribou, well-known to everyone, and a manchurian wapiti, a rarer one. It is unclear which of these was depicted in the toy, so we decided to include images of both.
Our favorite and the most difficult one: the Dog
The carved lines on the dogs’ bodies follow the pattern of dog harness straps. The Nanai have been carving dogs in this manner for as long as they are known in the historical record.
In the image, the two upper photographs show relatively old items dating to the mid-19th century. The item in the lower left is a modern piece from the late 20th century.
Frog
We do not know much about frog-shaped toys, but we do know that shamans decorated their costumes with frog figures. Frogs were likely an important symbolic element in shamanic tradition — and we will talk more about them later.
Here are some savans and toys made by Nanai and Evenki peoples.
What is a savan?
A savan (pronounced like “sevEn”, and сэвэ́н in Russian) is a wooden idol. It can be zoomorphic or anthropomorphic, and may be small and portable or larger than a human being.
Savans served as vessels for spirits — both benevolent and malevolent ones. The Nanai and Evenki used them in shamanic rituals as well as in everyday life. For example, a savan could act as a guardian of the home.
Nowadays, museum keepers continue to “feed” savans as a gesture of respect for tradition — and perhaps as a spiritual act as well.
These savans and toys depict animals living side-by-side with the peoples who created them.
Try to guess which animals they are!
Here are rather easy ones :)
1.
2.
3.
Aaaand comparatively difficult ones =D
4. And yes, branches count!
5. Tatiana's favorite btw!
6.
Note: We did not find the correct spelling term for savan in English. This is only our transliteration of the original word.
1-5 from the Grodekov's Museum, 6 from the local museum of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur.
