Classes are held in the workshop “Mel” Manzarana”

Photo: Alexandra Berg/nao24.ru

Project participants have 2.5 months to make their own belt. In December, students will present their completed works at an exhibition.

All this time, each student will work with the master individually at a time convenient for themselves.

“Everyone knows that this is important for the continuity of traditions.” We became curious whether there would be such brave people who, together with Alexander Alekseevich, would go through this rather difficult path. Participation is free, the only thing is that students will have to purchase some of the materials themselves,” explained the author of the project, director of the Ethnocultural Center of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Elena Vergunova.

Photo: Alexandra Berg/nao24.ru

Six residents of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug became participants in the “Hasava ni” (“Men’s Belt”) project: Valery Latyshev, Alexander Terletsky, Victor Vylka, Ivan Apitsyn, Kirill Vyucheysky and Elena Ermolina.

The organizer of sports competitions and the administrator of the GTO testing center in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Alexander Terletsky, has long dreamed of making his own traditional Nenets men’s belt.

Photo: Alexandra Berg/nao24.ru

— I have no experience in making a belt. I have wanted such a belt for a long time, I searched for a long time. I often participate in various events, I have Nenets clothes, but I have to get a belt somewhere and ask. Here you have the opportunity to make your own personal belt. When I saw information about the opening of a new project, I immediately signed up,” shares Alexander Terletsky.

Valery Latyshev is originally from Oma, worked as a reindeer herder, and is now retired. The man is sure that a traditional belt is simply necessary in the tundra.

Photo: Alexandra Berg/nao24.ru

— We made the “ni” ourselves, a little different from the master class, simpler, some parts were made from plastic, which we picked up on the shore. A reindeer herder really needs a belt; a knife should always be at hand. Nowadays, tundra dwellers often wear simple modern belts or simply tie their belts around with a rope. Not everyone has a real belt these days,” says Valery Latyshev.

A native of Nelmin Nos, a student at the Naryan-Mar Social and Humanitarian College, Kirill Vyucheysky is the youngest participant in the project. The young man values ​​his roots and actively popularizes Nenets culture – he participates in the Nenets folk song and dance ensembles “Maimbava” and “Khayar”, and the Nenets folk theater “Ilebts”.

Photo: Alexandra Berg/nao24.ru

— I’m writing a thesis on the Nenets men’s belt. To defend your diploma, you need to make it yourself and submit it. In addition, this attribute is needed during performances. Since there are not enough belts, you have to select them, but not all fit in size. Now a personal belt will appear thanks to such a project,” notes Kirill Vyucheysky.

The only exception in the male group of participants was Elena Ermolina. She wants to make a gift for her brothers with her own hands during the master classes.

Photo: Alexandra Berg/nao24.ru

— My twin brothers work as reindeer herders. I really want to give them a gift with my own hands. Although, unfortunately, I can only make one as part of the project,” explained Elena Ermolina.

The project manager is Alexander Ledkov, a leading specialist in the methods of club work of the ECC NAO. The master learned to make a traditional men’s belt from his father.

Photo: Alexandra Berg/nao24.ru

— All parts are made of copper alloy, it’s like a talisman against evil spirits. And since all these decorations are around a person, he is protected from all sides from the spirits of illness and others. When a shaman performs rituals, he does not wear a belt, because he may not allow spirits to come to him to help people, said Alexander Ledkov.

Let us remind you that the number of participants is not limited; anyone can still join the project.