Sihirtia

Sihirtia[1] (Nenets: сихиртя) or Sirtia (Nenets: сиртя) were the mythical people who lived in the tundra before the arrival of Nenets.

According to legends, Sihirtians were small-sized, wearing beautiful clothes with metal pendants. They had "white" (light blue) eyes, they spoke with a slight stutter. Tall sandy hills served them as homes. They came out to the surface of the tundra at night or in the mist; lived under the ground, where they traveled on dogs and pastured mammoths ("earth deer"). Sihirtians were skilled smiths and good warriors. Meetings with Sihirtians brought a misfortune or a good luck. There were cases of marriage between Nenets and Sihirtians.

The folklore image of Sihirtians has mythologically imprinted features of the real people (probably of the Samoyedic or Paleo-Siberian origin), who lived in Europe and the West Siberian tundra in antiquity. According to the archeological data, the predecessors of the Nenets were not shepherds–reindeer herders, but engaged in hunting for wild reindeer and sea beast, fishing.