Oroqen

Tea

The Oroqen had their own wild brews: a decoction of schisandra 五味子 wǔwèizǐ, spring birch sap tapped by cutting the root in May and June, and “dirguse” — milky-white resin scraped with a knife from a peeled birch trunk; among steeped herbs they also kept 黄芪 huángqí (astragalus) and 黄芩 huángqín (skullcap). Tea leaf and iron kettles came as FOREIGN goods: through fur buyers 安达 āndá and through the annual fair 楚勒罕 chǔlèhán, where sable was delivered as tribute and the remainder of the exchange went to flour, cloth, and tea. Even felt hats Oroqen women bartered from the Daur — they kept no sheep of their own and could not felt. Hence the card’s subject became the imported kettle: for them, tea begins with it.

Crown growth

An imported iron kettle: a squat hemisphere with two lugs and a handle swung back, the wall pitted with forging marks and sooted along the bottom; inside sits a dark brew, with two boiled leaves and one red schisandra berry floating on the surface. Silhouette — a low hemisphere with an arc above it, unlike any other growth in the set.

Headgear

A summer rovduga hunter’s cap: a soft crown hugging the skull, a straight low front edge above the brow, and two leather flaps. The right flap is lowered, covering the cheek and ear against gnats; the left is raised and drawn with a strap to the crown so the wearer can hear the taiga — this is how they are worn on the move. The stiff nape guard is removed, the neck covered by the collar. The former headband 奇哈屯 with strands of beads, shells, and teeth is entirely removed: a pendant circlet is too close to shamanic. The slot for the kettle is at the crown, the edge stitched with a narrow strip of rovduga.

Outline at 6 mm. One ear up, one down: a snug cap with ONE flap raised above the temple and the other lowered along the opposite cheek to the jaw — the only headgear in the set asymmetric along the lateral axis. There is no back brim. It differs from the Dongxiang in that there both flaps hang down and both sit below the chin, from the Russians in that there both ears are raised and tied in a knot above the crown, from the Kazakhs in the absence of a back apron and a fur roll around the rim, from the Maonan in that there the wrapping is smooth, with no standing elements, and only a comb of splints stands above the crown, whereas here the only standing element is the raised ear above the temple.

Clothing

A short rovduga jacket with fur inside and a straight hem, a plain belt without fittings, leg wraps on the shins, and an empty canvas sack from the fair slung over the back.

Palette

Light smoky rovduga, dark blued kettle iron, a red berry dot, and a dark brown brew.