Shawl "NANAI" wool 135х135 on a blue background

The drawing is inspired by Nanai ornaments. 

The word "nanai" may be interpreted as "na" (land) and "nai" (man), thus meaning “man of land”. In the past Nanais were known in Russian literature and other European languages as “Goldes”. 

"The entire Goldic costume in all its parts is so abundantly adorned and with such diligence and artistic taste that involuntarily strikes everyone, even those absolutely indifferent to adornment and art taste in general. There is literally no place on the costume that is not covered with any intricate pattern... Patterns are painted in many colors. Colors are selected with such taste that all researchers who visited Goldes unanimously express their admiration" – thus wrote at the beginning of the XX century I. A. Lopatin, the Far Eastern ethnographer and the researcher of traditions of Nanai people, the Amur indigenous population. 

Ornaments on the garments were performed of fish skin – one of the most ancient materials that man mastered and used in everyday life. Those ornaments contained the deep sacral meaning, the enciphered information on the Universe. The most complex spirals blended into the images of a world tree, dragons, birds, fishes, snakes, thus creating a powerful protective shield.