#savan

Some figures are quite easy to recognize, while others are truly challenging! Here are the answers of who is who. Brown Bear Outer Manchuria (the Amur region of Russia, Приамурье), where the Nanai people live, is home to both the brown bear and the Asian black bear (also known as the moon bear or white-chested bear). However, Nanai bear savans were traditionally dedicated specifically to the brown bear.

Leopard More precisely, this figure represents the Amur leopard, native to the Russian Far East and northern China. A beautiful specie! When Joe made their guess, they thought it was a snow leopard, which actually lives in Central Asia.

Tiger This is the Siberian (Amur) tiger, which inhabits the Russian Far East, northern China, and possibly the Korean Peninsula. Today, its population is concentrated mainly in the Sikhote-Alin mountain region of the Far East. Do not confuse Sikhote-Alin with Sikachi-Alyan! The latter is a famous petroglyph site. And a small spoiler: one shamanic costume in our collection is decorated with tiger savans! We will definitely show it later.

Reindeer But which reindeer? There are two certain species live in the Far East. They are a caribou, well-known to everyone, and a manchurian wapiti, a rarer one. It is unclear which of these was depicted in the toy, so we decided to include images of both.

Our favorite and the most difficult one: the Dog The carved lines on the dogs’ bodies follow the pattern of dog harness straps. The Nanai have been carving dogs in this manner for as long as they are known in the historical record. In the image, the two upper photographs show relatively old items dating to the mid-19th century. The item in the lower left is a modern piece from the late 20th century.

Frog We do not know much about frog-shaped toys, but we do know that shamans decorated their costumes with frog figures. Frogs were likely an important symbolic element in shamanic tradition — and we will talk more about them later.

"Remember once I told you 'bout

How before I heard it from your mouth

My name would always hit my ears

As such an awful sound

And the soul, if that's what you'd call it

Uneasy ally of the body

It felt nameless as a river undiscovered underground

And the first time that you kissed me

I drank dry the River Lethe

The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same

But you spoke some quick new music

That went so far to soothe this soul

As it was and ever shall be

Unearth without a name

Some part of me must have died

The first time that you called me baby

And some part of me came alive

The first time that you called me baby

These days I think I owe my life

To flowers that were left here by my mother

Ain't that like them, gifting life to you again

This life lived mostly underground

Unknowing either sight nor sound

'Til reaching up for sunlight

Just to be ripped out by the stem

Sensing only now it's dying

Drying out then drowning blindly

Blooming forth its every colour

In the moments it has left

To share the space with simple living things

Infinitely suffering

But fighting off like all creation

The absence of itself

Anyway

The last time it was heard out loud

The perfect genius of our hands and mouths were shocked

To resignation as the arguing declined

When I was young I used to guess

Are there limits to any emptiness?

When was the last time?

Samnia.

How long do I have left with my dog?

'Til I start forgetting shit?

If you would face me, take up arms, Newly Arisen.

GBA Fire Emblem inspired half-body portrait of Savan from Dragon's Dogma.

"If you would heed my call, prove now your worth."