120 FIG. 15 (below): Protector fi gure, edehe. Nanai, Amur region, eastern Siberia. 19th century. Copper alloy. H: 6 cm. Maylshevo Museum, Khabarovsk district. From Okladnikov, 1981: fi g. 24. FIG. 14 (left): Drawing of two wooden edehe, also referred to by Lopatin and others as adzhekh. From Lopatin, 1922: plate 22, fi g. 46. FEATURE the back and the fi ne notching around the edges of the edehe shown in fi gure 4 are suggestive of more general Siberian shamanic traditions that entered the Nanai territory from the Tungus regions to the south. In the case of the casting shown in fi gure 4, the chevrons are probably analogous to the similarly arranged metal or cloth strips representing ribs on the front of some Siberian shaman’s costumes (fi gs. 11–13), and the peripheral notching may allude to the “feathers” of a fl ying shaman. It is therefore most likely that this amulet was worn by a female shaman. However, peripheral notching and chevrons are also seen on some Nanai wood fl atfi sh and tortoise seven (Derevianko, fi gs. 156–158) that presumably have no shamanic signifi cance. Lopatin (1922: 224) also describes edehe fi gures that he refers to as Adzhekh: Adzhekh (see Plate XXII, 46 fi g. 14 here) represents the man with a pointed head. He helps in fi shing, and therefore the Gol’d strap it to their belt every time they go fi shing. Shamans also wore Adzhekh idols on their chest (often a couple— man and wife) during almost every ritual. From this it can be seen that this Seon Seven/idol plays an extremely important role in the life of the Gol’d and, in general, the Seon Adzhekh is one of the greatest Seon. Shimkevich even reports that Adzhekh ‘according to the beliefs of the Gol’d, lives in the sky together with Enduro and sent the latter to help the Gol’d in their fi shing and everyday life.’ But I doubt that this belief extended to the general Gol’d population; it is likely to have been reported to Shimkevich by some sort of
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