The Nenets are nomads who move their camps at least twice a year in search of better conditions for their domestic deer. They use wooden sleds to transport all their belongings, including chums — dwellings made of wooden poles and fur walls. The nomadic way of life has influenced the material culture of the northern peoples, with an important part of it being the bags for storing possessions.

For many centuries, the Nenets kept their belongings in a large fur bag with a width of up to one meter. It was used for storing and transporting clothes, cult objects, men’s tools, deer hides, and kitchen utensils.

The exceptional role of bags in nomadic households is reflected in the ancient tradition of giving them as dowry. A girl would sew her own bags of various sizes and purposes before marriage. Women sewed them by hand, using leather, fur, and threads from the back tendons of deer.

Each woman tried to make her bag as beautiful as possible, exhibiting her skills and imagination. Women’s bags are brilliant examples of Nenets creativity and national culture. Each of them is unique and highly valuable.

A pad is a large horizontal bag. It consists of two parts: a compartment for storing things and an opening with two leather straps. Such a bag was used for keeping clothes, women’s and men’s fur shoes, animal furs, wood shavings, fur scraps, and bird feathers. A sturdy pad bag could serve its owners for a long time — up to 50 years.

Nenets women’s bags were usually decorated in the same way as their clothes: with beautiful patterns, colored cloth patches, and fur mosaics. A bag was trimmed with a strip of rovduga (soft reindeer suede) dyed with red ocher, and sometimes with a strip of fur. The bottom corners of all bags were rounded so that their shape resembled an oval.

Such a bag belonged to women, so it was always kept in the women’s half of the chum. Its exact place depended on its contents. A large bag with sewing materials, including a malitsa coat being made, was always kept at hand. Bags with women’s underclothing or shoes were placed inside the chum, near the entrance. Traditionally, a pad was not given as a present but could be sold or exchanged for necessary materials, such as cloth.