Leather Production by the Khakas People: Traditions and Modernity

The article examines the traditional leather production by the Khakas people in the 19th-21st centuries. In historiography, this topic has not been an object of a special study, but has been considered in the context of general ethnic culture in works of pre-revolutionary and modern domestic researchers. The author used an integrated approach based on related sciences - history, ethnography and folklore. The main research method was descriptive. With its help, an ethnographic description of the topic was given. To classify tools used in leather production, a typological method was applied. The use of a comparative historical method made it possible to trace the history of the development of leather production by the Khakas people in the 19th - early 21st centuries. The sources for the research were the ethnographic field materials of the author, P.I. Karalkin's and K.M. Patachakov's ethnographic materials stored in the Manuscript Collection of the Khakass Research Institute of Language, Literature and History, and published folklore materials. In general, the sources and literature made it possible to fully reveal the peculiarities of leather production by the Khakas people in the aspects of tradition and modernity. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the traditional leather production existed until the 1960s and covered a wide range of of Khakas people's activities. In total, the author has identified more than ten methods of tanning and processing skins of ungulates and fur animals. Materials of natural origin (tree bark, fat, etc.) were used for dyeing different sorts of leather. Skins of large ungulates and horses were tanned with special leather grinders using draft force. Sheepskins, skins of roe deer and other animals were tanned using a wooden curved stick with notches and a stump of an old scythe blade, and furskins were tanned by hand. In traditional society, leather products played an important role. The Khakas used leather for sewing clothes, shoes, elements of horse harness and riding equipment, and making household items, etc. Fur was used to decorate festive national outerwear. In the 21st century, many elements of the Khakas leather production have been transformed and came out of use. Nowadays, specialized Khakas artisans are engaged in traditional leather production.

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