ABSTRACT
In Nenets culture, the worship of fire is reflected in folklore, cosmology, and many religious rites. There are many rules of everyday behavior in the tundra which are based on the belief that a domestic fire can be protective, but without human control it is destructive and dangerous. The hearth is physically and symbolically associated with women, family wealth, cooking, heating, needlework, and childbearing. Thus, it follows that women are responsible for making the fire, along with all rites connected to the fire and smoke. Fire is also communicative; it can talk to people and give omens. The protective energy of the fire helps a woman to fumigate a living space and bless her family, people, and reindeer, protecting them from her dangerous power of female connection to the world of ancestors. During these rites, only the women can talk in the symbolic language of the fire.
