According to a popular opinion on shamans in Mongolia, black shamans are dangerous people for they have the power to harm or even kill others by calling down curses on them. On the other hand they are believed to have the power to neutralize other shamans’ curses and to do away with the demons that cause serious illnesses. A black and white shamaness, the one I wrote about in the previous post, in the beginning of an interview said in relation to her ‘black’ shamanic practice that she would perform various kinds of rituals except for calling down curses and anything that she might consider harmful. As she explained, Buryat shamans have to take ninety-nine oaths during their first initiation, which prevents them from causing any kind of harm:. She said; it was prohibited to endanger human life , put obstacles in people’s way and quarrel , but they have to help all the living creatures . The black shaman's costume in general is regarded as a suit of armour protecting its wearer from the possible attacks of harmful spirits. Buryat shamans, similarly to warriors, also have weapons which can be found on their costume and whip. These are miniature weapons made of iron that are belived to have been forged by Damdin Dorlig the patron deity of blacksmiths who is also regarded as the blacksmith and armourer of shamans. Based upon the idea that a shaman is an armed warrior, we can assume that in earlier times, those who were in lack of physical or mental strength and thus did not have the potential to take their share of battles and fights, found their way out of this situation by becoming warriors of an invisible realm. The members of their community believed that they were the only ones who could defeat the invisible enemies, i.e., the harmful spirits who caused diseases and misfortunes. Thus, the ’weak’ had an alternative to become a beneficial member of the society by obtaining the ability the ’strong’ could never have. In times of unceasing fightings and rivalry, there was only one possible way to be recognized by the community: namely, to become a warrior. The power of the black shaman is expressed by the number of weapons s/he has on his/her costume. Those who have been practising for many years have more elaborate costume than the beginners. The reason for this is that stronger and more experienced shamans encounter stronger spirits. It is not the spirits they invoke who can
do harm to the shaman, but the evil spirits or various kinds of demons that accompany the invoked ones, or those the shaman tries to expell from a client’s body.
A Black Shaman in his Armour
A Black Shaman's Armour
Between two miniature bows a hart shaped mirror is fastened to the costume. the tree animals stand for the tripartite world; the lizard represents the netherworld, the bird the upperworld and the hog stands for our world.
A Black Shaman's Helmet
There are two antlers on each side of the helmet. The number of the prongs indicate the number of consecrations the shaman has recieved. This shaman has six prongs on each of his antlers, which means that he has twelve consecrations. The maximum number is thirteen. (He has been told by his master not to do the thirteenth)
In 2004 and 2005 I studied at a Mongolian university in Ulaanbaatar and conducted my fieldwork research on contemporary Mongolian shamanism. I often visited the Golomt Centre of Mongolian Shamans in an effort to get acquanted with as many shamans as possible and to collect data for my research. It happend in January 2005 that Suhbat, the head of the Centre, asked me to bring my video camera and make an interview with a shamaness (Altanceceg) and her assistant (Namsrai) who were going to come from Dornod aimag the next day. So they came and brought along a pink fancy cake, big chunks of mutton and a bottle of vodka. After having eaten and drunk we settled down to work. First I made the interview about how they had become those they were, how they practiced etc. Then I asked them to introduce me the shamanic paraphernalia and lastly they allowed me to capture a ritual on camera. Now in this post I'm going to write about the paraphernalia. Namsrai explained to me that the Buryats distinguished between two kinds of shamans; black and white shamans. Altanceceg was both. Black and white shamans wear different costumes and use different requisites. Altanceceg first showed me her white costume and paraphernalia, which resembled the traditional Buryat garment. She didn't look like a "real shaman" to me in it. Buryats often say that white shamans aren't"real shamans", in fact they are bone-setters (bariash), who can put the sprained bones right and cure minor illnesses. The white shaman channels Buddhist divinities during his/her rituals while the black ones would impersonate their ancestors in ecstasy. The following video is an excerpt from my footage I made with Altanceceg and Namsrai and it represents the white shaman's costume. Altanceceg is the shaman, I am the one who asks questions which are answered by Namsrai.
If you want to know where the Buryats and other ethnic groups of Mongolic origin live check this out!
Mongol shamans are not all alike. In fact there are a number of shamanic traditions in the Mongol Cultural Region that spans the borders of three countries, Mongolia, Russia, and China. The region comprises Kalmykia, Buryatia, Mongolia, Inner-Mongolia and certain parts of north west China (mainly Xinjiang and Qinghai provinces) that are inhabited by Mongols. In this vast territory there are three major areas or regions where different shamanic traditions are practiced. Shamans from these regions differ greatly from each other. These regions are the following:
1. The Darkhat or north western region inhabited by the Mongol Darkhats and the Turkic Dukhas (also known by their Mongolian name Tsaatans). Darkhat and Dukha shamans practice a south siberian turkic type of shamanism, which is very similar to that of the Tuvans. 2. The north eastern region is populated by the Buryats, Bargas and Daurs. Their shamanism shows similarities with the shamanism of the Tungus. 3. The south eastern region or the Khorchin region is situated at the south eastern periphery of the Mongol Cultural Region north east from Beijing. The shamanism of the Khorchin Mongols has much proximity with that of the Manchu and Sibe ethnic groups.
Here is a map of the above-mentioned regions of Mongol shamanism:
The word situgen means 'the object of veneration' in written Mongolian. Its modern Mongolian form is shuteen. A shuteen or situgen can be anything that is revered and worshipped by the Mongols. It can be one's parents, the spirits of deceased ancestors and shamans, buddhist deities, or a legendary hero. The meaning of situgen often overlaps with that of the onggon (modern M. ongon) which can be interpreted as divine inspiration that spurs artistic and religious performances. The onggon is also viewed as an ancestral spirit impersonated by shamans. In fact every onggon is a situgen for all the onggons are revered but not every situgen is an onggon. In modern Mongolian the combination of these two words are often used as one expression: ongon shuteen implying deities, and spirits. In the Mongolian cultural region there are various types of situgen or onggon representations:
This is an image of a female ongon probably made of copper. You can see her tits and two parallel lines presumably standing for the streams of her flowing milk. I photographed it with my mobile phone during a trip outside of Ulaanbaatar.
A Khorchin shaman's ongon-images made of bronze. 2008 september Kulunqi, Tongliao, Inner-Mongolia.
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