Some aspects of traditional ideas associated with the hand in the Ob Ugrians and Samoyeds: from the ordinary to the sacred

The large ethnographic material reveals the functional meaning, as well as symbolic meanings of the image of a hand, embodied in mythology, folklore, rituals, customs, and etiquette. Protective actions associated with the hand are noted.Separate language units are presented used for instrumental and tool activity (names of fingers, varieties of span, finger count). It is emphasized that unlike the Khanty and Mansi, which have an independent name for every finger, the Forest Nenets nominate it descriptively, comparing it with a branch or an offshoot of the deer's horn.The material on hierarchy of the fingers shows that the thumb had a close relationship with one of the varieties of souls in the Ob Ugrians and Samoyeds - a "burial soul", and the phalanx of the thumb of the right hand, cut off from the great shaman, became a major fetish of the descendants of the deceased and embodied shamanic power. The symbolism of the index finger emphasized the ability of a person to control; the connection of its name with sewing ("thimble-finger") was marked. The middle finger was characterized as "high" and had no symbolic meaning. The name of the ring finger ("finger without a name"), related to the organs symbolizing life (heart, liver) was explained by the fear of the evil eye. Little finger marked a boundary with the other world. It was given the role of creating a channel of mental communication between people.The paper emphasizes the importance of the hand with an incomplete number of fingers as a marker of the inhabitants of the other world, as well as the symbolism of the hand in the funeral rite. The special role of the hand in the etiquette associated with the custom of avoidance is noted. The paper reveals the diversity of approaches to the study of the body as a socio-cultural phenomenon.