117 FIG. 7 (right): Protector fi gure, edehe. Nanai, Amur region, eastern Siberia. Probably 18th or 19th century. Copper alloy. H: 5.5 cm. Private collection, Scandinavia. FIGS. 4a and b (above): Protector fi gure, edehe (front and back). Nanai, Amur region, eastern Siberia. Probably 18th or 19th century. Copper alloy. H: 7.5 cm. Private collection. FIG. 5 (above center): Protector fi gure, edehe. Nanai, Amur region, eastern Siberia. Probably 18th or 19th century. Copper alloy. H: 7 cm. Private collection, Scandinavia. FIG. 6 (above right): Protector fi gure, edehe. Nanai, Amur region, eastern Siberia. Probably 18th or 19th century. Copper alloy. H: 6 cm. Private collection, Scandinavia. could be distinguished by the form of the top of the head, which may be triangular, oval, or fl at. These fi gures had a number of subdivisions. Ayami representing the protective spirits of the upper (or celestial) world are a specifi c type called edehe and are relatively uncommon in the form of metal amulets. They are personal protectors of either men or women, usually 5–10 cm in length, and were worn both by shamans and ordinary people suspended from the neck by a leather strap or cord (Derevianko, 2005: fi gs. 8–11 and 16–19; Samar, 2003; Titoreva, 2012). Metal ayami were usually made of iron or bronze, but also of silver, tin, lead, and zinc (Baráthosi-Balogh, 1996:87; Samar, 1998), and 1, 2, 4–7). The protectors of the water elements were made of willow tree wood or peat, and the receptacles of diseases and those representing the personal failures of their makers were made of straw (fi gs. 8, 9a and b). Anthropomorphic images were usually made without arms, and amulets that were worn suspended from the neck were termed ayami. The lower limbs of these and other sculptures of the peoples of Siberia and the Russian Far East frequently have bent knees, emphasizing their primary function of movement (Kubanova, 1997). In traditional shamanic performances of the Nanai, the image of the shaman’s spirit also has the common name ayami, which is usually translated as the shaman’s “helper,” but ordinary people also had ayami. The term has also been proposed (Alekseev, 1984) to be derived from the Indo- European ai (to create), in which case the etymology of the word ayami, creating or revitalizing, would be particularly applicable to the primal spirit—the counterpart of the shaman (Sem, 2003: 184). Ayami were most commonly made of wood and represented either male or female spirits that
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