The keryozhka from the museum collection is a volokusha sled used for transporting fish over snow and ice. It is made in the shape of a boat, with the sides sewn from thick wooden splinters. The base of the sled is a thick board. The item originated in the Unezhma village in Onega Uyezd, Arkhangelsk Governorate.

The keryozhka was also known as keryozha, keryozh, or keres. In other regions, similar sleds were used not only for cargo transportation but also for reindeer riding. A keryozha was made in the form of a narrow wooden boat with the shape of a trough, a sharp front and straight back. In the middle of the bottom, there was usually a wooden runner, sometimes reinforced with iron. Inside, thick half-hoops were attached to it, with thin long boards sewn to the loops.

Instead of shafts, belt straps were used to attach a deer harness to the sled. On the Kola Peninsula, such a sled, with its top covered with a canvas or hide, was also known as a bolok or volchek. The Sami keryozha was the prototype for the household, fishing, and hunting sleds used by peasants in the Arkhangelsk and Olonets Governorates, who lived along the coast of the White Sea.

In the Pomor villages of the Onega and Kem Uyezds, Arkhangelsk Governorate, small keryozha sleds were made. They were convenient for winter fishing for navaga and smelt, and were used to transport not only fish but also equipment such as ice chisels, scoops, and fishing rods.

For the transportation of long rods, a special diamond-shaped hole was cut in the rear end part, which could accommodate the metal part of a chisel. During fishing, a keryozha sled was also used as a seat. At shallow depths near the shore, even women and girls were engaged in fishing for navaga. They were called navazhnitsy.

Some keryozha sleds used by hunters had a wooden cover that protected the sled against snow in the forest. Such sleds looked like long, narrow boats. Children rode down hills on big keryozha sleds during New Year’s festivities.