To the sacred meaning of the arrows (ritual arrows from the sacred sites)

We take up the question about traditional sacral culture of the Ob Ugres in this study. The author gives the examples of steady practices when the guardian spirits were personified through the arm items, especially arrowheads, decorated by textile, and bunches of arrows, united by textile stripes or belted by woofed cord. Such complexes, together with helmet-like head-dresses, symbolized the spirit of ancestor-soldier-bogatyr. This observation is the result of field research, provided by Subpolar ethnographic expedition of IAET SB RAS in 2014-2015s, where the author had participated. Expedition realized the monitoring of sacral places in Berezovo district of KhMAD - Yugra and Shuryshkary district of YNAD under the direction of doctor of historical sciences A. V. Baulo. The author gives the detailed characteristics of the ritual arrow kit from the Khanty and Mansi cultic place and compare two complexes, including the typological characteristics and chronology of the sites. Analysis of material permit to conclude that sites are asynchronous, tradition of the veneration of the weapon stays stable among Ob Ugres, but the original items, which were used in household, interchange by their imitation. This transformation of spiritual culture is observed in that cultic place, where autochthonous people took in. The tradition of ancestor veneration is the steady reflection among Northern Mansi, while the ritual arrow kit is more archaic in the Khanty cultic complex.