New Year tree of the Khabarovsk region: magical spells of the people of the earth

Nanai ornaments have become the basis of New Year decoration of the fir tree.

The main elements of Nanai ornaments are the spiral, zoomorphic images and a narrow ribbon or line. The spiral is present everywhere, on objects of any purpose and in any material.

Ornament in its original form is a kind of encrypted magical incantation. For many centuries, ornament for the Nanai served not so much as a decorative means, but as an ancient sign system that concentrated the broad knowledge of all previous generations about the world and society.

Modern researchers note the similarity of many Nanai ornaments to a bird’s-eye view of the overflowing Amur River. There are various types of Nanai ornaments on the decoration of the fir tree, including horn-shaped ornaments that symbolize prosperity and abundance, security symbols and many others.

Interestingly, the name of the people came from the word "Nanai", in which "na" means "man" and "nai" means "earth", the Nanai themselves call themselves "people of the earth". It is known that the name "Nanai" was formed only by the 30s of the XX century, before Russian researchers called them "Goldy". The Nanai are a small-numbered indigenous people of the Far East, living along the banks of the Amur River and its tributaries.