Lilija Zdor und ihr Team erzählen von Wahrsagegeräten

“The shoulder blades show burned-through holes and dark charring all around. There are two cracks in the shoulder blade – one points toward the joint socket and the other in the opposite direction.

Every autumn, during the reindeer rut in September, the owner of a yaranga slaughters one male and one female reindeer. The meat from the chest and thighs is preserved in the food storage area for the Reconciliation Festival with Nature. The rest of the slaughtered reindeer is dried and stored in a casing made from the animal’s own hide. The left shoulder blades of female reindeer sacrificed for this ritual are used as tools for divination. These are used to determine the routes of spring and autumn migrations. The elders of the camp make collective decisions about the direction of the nomadic migration. However, if there is doubt about which path to choose, they seek advice using the shoulder blade from which the meat has been removed – i.e., a dried scapula. For divination, the shoulder blade is held by the neck with the left hand, while a glowing piece of wood is held in the right hand and brought near the scapula. It is held over the glowing wood in the middle of the rear joint socket until cracks appear. To interpret the result, the shoulder blade is turned upside down so that the joint part faces the corridor to be followed, with the starting point aligned to the east. They study the direction of the cracks and make their decision for the migration route accordingly. In the reindeer herder camps, this kind of divination is usually done in every yaranga. If the majority of the diviners see similar cracks on their shoulder blades, the group proceeds based on the majority result.”

* Liliia Zdor, Galina Etul', Irina Gyrgol'naut, Irina Nutetgivev and Mark Zdor.

Self-recoeded. Fairbanks, 2024.