Elena Stepanova talks about jewellery boxes

00:00 – 03:18

After providing information about her family background, Elena Stepanova talks about a jewellery box that she received from relatives. Another particularly elaborately decorated jewellery box is now in her mother’s possession. It is decorated with malachite and coral and has been passed down through several generations of the family: from her great-grandmother Bododin to her daughter Syrma, Elena’s grandmother, who in turn passed it on to her daughter, Elena’s mother. For Elena, the boxes therefore have not only a practical function but, above all, familial significance and value as objects passed down through generations. She intends to give her own box to her son when he gets married.
(Subtitles: cc)

Recorded by Mariia Berel’tueva (Tepkegir), Uliunkhan, Kurumkan District, Republic of Buryatia, December 2025.
Translation: Mariia Berel’tueva.
Transliteration: Mariia Berel’tueva, Daniil Nikitenko.
Editing: Nadezhda Mamontova.