Shamanism

Before the establishment of Buddhism, shamanism was the leading cult practice of the Mongolians. It co-existed with pre-Shamanic beliefs: cults of the sky and the earth, the fire, the master of the hearth as well as hunting, trade and other cults. Among them is the Obo cult. This is how primitive sanctuaries of the spirits that are masters of the local area are called. They were constructed in the form of piles of stones on top of mountains, on passes, on lake shores and in the steppe. All these cults did not require shamans as intermediaries between the spirits and the people, although they sometimes participated in them.

Shaman practice implied those spheres of religious life where a shaman as a priest-intermediary puts himself in an ecstatic condition and becomes a personification of the spirits and conveys their will to the people. Many everyday rituals (death, birth, weddings) required participation of a shaman. A shaman was irreplaceable for healing the ill, telling the future, finding lost people, cattle, objects.

In the period of shamanism Mongolian mythology reached its golden age; later Buddhism adopted many images from it. Thus, an evil female deity Okin-gengri who punished with sterility and sent death to parturient women embodied with the Buddhist Lhamo, and the mythical plots connected with her were transformed in Buddhist mythology. In the same way many shamanistic beliefs went to Buddhism and have preserved until our time.

Obo - place of local deities worshiping.    Mongolia. Mongols.  D. Ivanov. 2006		Tent of practising shaman.  Mongolia, Ulan-Bator. Mongols.  P. Rykin. 2005		Scene of Mother-Rock worshiping.  Mongolia. Mongols. P. Rykin. 2005
Planks which were put near dead person. Mongolia, 19th c.		The oboo marks crossing from one area to another. It is the place were spirits of specific area are worshiped. Mongolia. The Mongols. Rykin P., 2005.		Sacred tree. Mongolia. Rykin P., 2005.
Khan's oboo in the Gobi. Mongolia. Rykin P., 2006.		Veneration of individual mountains, stones and poles is comon in Mongolia. Similar stones and poles are decorated with special silk shawls and are offered worship. Mongolia. The Mongols. Ivanov D., 2006.