Natural and geographical features of sacred landscapes of the Khanty in the Surgut Ob region

The aim of the study was to identify the natural features of landscapes that determine their sacralization by the Surgut Khanty people. This was achieved by addressing the following objectives: conducting a review of the mechanisms of sacralization of space and factors influencing this process, categorization of natural landscapes associated by the Surgut Khanty with different types of supernatural beings (deities and spirits), and identification of patterns in the location of sacred landscapes. The sources for the study were represented by publications on the sacred places of the Surgut Khanty and archival sources (reports on scientific research, accounting documentation on cult objects of the Surgut Khanty of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Yugra, and field materials of A.A. Rud’, collected in 2002–2017). Among the Khanty of the Surgut Ob region, the most preferable for sacralization are the heights dominating in the landscape, areas of bedrock terraces of reservoirs, river mouths, islands and capes of lakes and rivers, deep areas of reservoirs, as well as other landscapes which the Khanty consider unique. Another reason for the sacralization of natural objects may be an occasional factor. The natural landscape may be associated with certain unusual (or historical) event in life of a person or community, or with a mythological character from the traditional worldview. In this case, the sacred landscape can be confined to any point in the taiga space.