Cseri Miklós, Tárnoki Judit szerk.: Népi építészet a Kárpát-medencében a honfoglalástól a 18. századig - A 2001. október 9-10-én Szolnokon megrendezett konferencia anyaga (Szentendre; Szolnok: Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum; Szolnoki Damjanich János, 2001)

KEREZSI Ágnes: Az obi-ugorok legjellemzőbb épülettípusai

The most typical building types of the Ob-Ugrians ÁGNES KEREZSI The number of the Ob-Ugrians, or with other names of the Ostyaks and of the Voguls is nearly 30 000. They live in the district Tumeny on a surface of 1 435000 km

2 under very different natural conditions and displaying various economic and social circumstances. Certain groups, being reindeer breeders, are migrating while following their animals, in other regions fishery plays an important role or hunting is the main economy. Therefore, it is not surprising that researchers identified about 40 different types of buildings among the Ob-Ugrians living on the huge surface and having various occupations. These buildings can be divided into three main groups: frame structures, log-houses and frame structures with log walls. Within them, we differentiate between buildings sunk under the surface and built on the surface. It is typical of the manifold varieties of the frame structures built on the surface that we find among them the conical round tent as well as rectangular buildings with gable roof and half gable roof. The frame was usually covered with birch bark, with twigs or with pelts. Nowadays modern materials such as tent-cloth or plastic insulation materials are preferred. The question about the origin of the conical tent {chum) has been an old problem for the FinnoUgric and for the Hungarian ethnography. This type of building of the Ob-Ugrians is certainly not of Finno-Ugric, but of Samoyedic origin. This is proven by the fact that, unlike the other mentioned building types, they are not everywhere known, only in the Northern regions, among the reindeer breeders. The Siberian tents are grouped following the way how the supporting posts are fixed to each other and how the device to hold the kettle above the open fire is placed. It is typical for the Samoyedic type, which is used by the Ob-Ugrians too, that the frame consists of 2-3 supporting posts. These are tied to each other at the top with a rope, or one post is placed in the fork of the other post in a slanting way (fig. 2). 25-40 sharpened stakes are attached to them forming a circle. They had a length of 5-7 m, and the more stakes, the bigger the surface of the tent. Fire was burning in the middle, within a rectangular wooden frame, but nowadays an iron oven stands there. The tents used to be covered with birch bark in the summer and with several layers of pelts in the winter. The interiors of the Ob-Ugrian tents are very uniform and follow the Samoyedic way. Generally, the right-hand side of the tent is the better part, the older generation dwells here. The inner space is covered with pine-boughs but in the middle a one-meter wide strip is left empty, where the fire burns. A log is laid on two sides of the fire. The fire-place and the space behind it is sacred, women are prohibited to enter it. The sleeping places are along the tent walls. The first place near the entrance belongs to the housewife. She keeps here her fur, her clothing, stitching utensils and the hides for processing. Next to her is the place of the baby, who sleeps most of the time in the day or night cradle. The second place belongs to the husband. He keeps here his hunting weapons, personal belongings and clothing. After them follow the bigger children and the guests. The Ob-Ugrian tents display similarities with the Hungarian conical huts not only in their look but also in their inside arrangement. Therefore, Ottó HERMAN'S statement is true, saying that based on his appearance, the Hungarian conical hut belongs to the family of the conical tents and huts preserved in the northern and middle belt of Eurasia. Klára K. CSILLÉRY completed this statement saying that the inside arrangement of our conical huts is similar to the conical tents of Northern-Eurasia. I would like to add that concerning their shape and their inside arrangement, our conical huts remind more of the Samoyedic type tents, and can be considered as an Uralian heritage. The other traditional building of the Ob-Ugrians, the framed earth-house, sunk in the soil and covered by a roof leaning against the soil, has a history of several thousand years (fig. 4), which can be traced back to the Neolithikum. The tradition of building log-houses spread to all Ob-Ugrian groups at the beginning of the 19

th century. It is characteristic of the Ob-Ugrian log-houses that they are low, rectangular buildings, set up without foundation and without ceiling. The houses were made of 9-11 lumbers covered by a gable