1880.04.0332 – Fireboard – milghyn (Fig.9).
This object was used for lighting the fire or family heath. Based on its condition, it was barely used (because of its light color – IK). Often the family has several fireboards in its daily use. Unlike the family sacred (ritual) fireboards called gyrgyr (Bogoras 1904, 232,350–351), this object does not have a roughly carved human head at its end. The ritual fireboards are always of dark-brown color covered in sooth and grease from multiple ‘feeding’ ceremonies. During such feeding ceremony the board is being rubbed by a combination of bone marrow and blubber (fat), usually at the place of the mouth on human head. According to Nina Kyttagin, not all sacred fireboards have carved mouth, eyes or nose.
Each family commonly had its own fireboard and only members of that family could use it. It is forbidden to share fire from the family heath with other dwellings in the camp.
The fireboard set usually includes several objects, besides the fireboard (milghyn):
1) Ngileq – a round wooden drill
2) Tinguchgyn – a small bow made of reindeer antler (other name gyrilgyn), with a bowstring of bearded seal hide that is threaded through the holes at its ends and fixed with two knots
3) Arm protector (gyrgychychochyn) made of reindeer antler, kneecap or any piece of large animal bone or walrus ivory
[These elements are visible as a single set in the 1880 exhibit photos, though today they are disassembled and listed under separate numbers – IK, MS]
Making a fire with the fireboard requires skill and patience. The bowstring is rounded once over the wooden drill (ngyleq) and then is placed in a hole on the fireboard (milghyn). The upper end of the drill is covered with the arm protector (gyrgychychochyn). Then one presses hard with one arm over the arm protector while using another arm to move the bow (tinguchgyn) back and forth. The rotating drill produces small pieces of wood dust that eventually starts to smolder. Often people add pieces of charcoal from an old fire into the hole to speed up the smoldering process.
Certain family fireboards eventually become sacred objects; they are being kept in special secluded places. During family ceremonies the boards are being ‘fed’ together with other family sacred objects. For ritual feeding of family objects, people use a mixture of bone marrow from reindeer front legs (qymlat) and bone fat from crushed reindeer bones with added seal blubber (ypalgyn or palgyn).
The description is based on phone interviews with the Neshkan residents, Irina Nutetgivev (46), Nina Kyttagin (68), and Nikolai Ettyne (56), in April 2020.
Of five fireboards listed in the Vega Chukchi collection (nos. 04.0331–04.0335), only one (no. 04.0334) has a carved human head, but it is a newly made model of a family ritual fireboard, with no traces of prior use and no signs of carved mouth for feeding. The rest are common household fireboards, also with minimal use or produced specially for collectors. (Krupnik & Schultz 2020)
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