Fish in Traditional Hezhe Culture

Abstract

Representatives of the Hezhe people (Nanai people) live in Russia and China. This article is about fish in their traditional culture. Fish and everything related to it can be considered a cultural symbol of the Hezhe people. This is due to the peculiarities of the culture of the region located along the Amur, Sungari and Ussuri rivers. Analyses of historical documents and artistic works show the great importance of working with fish skin in the life of the Hezhe. Material production and spiritual life of the Hezhe have been closely connected with fish for many generations. It has been revealed that the high fertility of fish, one of the main sources of food and material for sewing clothes, caused the Hezhe people to revere fish in ancient times. It has been established that the Hezhe people had a rich culture. Fish became one of the most widespread zoomorphic motifs of Hezhe ornamental art. The image of fish on the products was given a high cultural meaning. This image left a vivid trace in both Chinese and Russian culture — from totemism to decorative items. The article presents an analysis of fish as a cultural symbol based on the materials of Chinese and Russian museum collections. The study of fish in the traditional culture of Hezhe will expand the existing knowledge about the nature and specificity of ethno-cultural interaction between China and the peoples of the Amur region for many centuries. An attempt is made to tell about the specifics of Chinese cultural meaning of decorative items based on fish skin. For the first time the authors treat the ornamentation of fish patterns in the traditional culture of Hezhe in a systematized form. This will allow researchers to familiarize themselves with information from Chinese sources to identify typical images of fish in Hezhe for further study of the topic of fish skin processing as art in Russia.