The Northern Code: Secret Signs in Window Frames and Embroidery

This article conducts a semiotic analysis of the traditional ornament of the Russian North, examining it as a complex sign system that functioned as an interface for human adaptation to extreme environmental conditions. It decodes the basic symbols (solar, water, earth signs) and compares their expression across different materials (wood, textile) and ethnic groups (Russians, Karelians, Komi). The study proposes that ornament served as a "vertical landscape," projecting onto the house and costume an ideal model of an ordered cosmos. A comparative analysis of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic motifs among the Nenets and Pomors is provided. The interdisciplinary approach integrates geography, anthropology, and neuroaesthetics to explain the psychophysiological comfort provided by ornament in conditions of sensory deprivation.