(Ill. Artist Zhuravleva Olga.)
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History of the region
Shamanic beliefs in the Barguzin river valley have ancient history... This is due to the fact that the development of the region was influenced by the cultures of several peoples. At the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D. the ancestors of the Evenks, myogirs, lived throughout the vast territory from Lake Baikal to the Vitim plateau.
Human memory has left only rare, fragmentary references to them in traditions and legends. Even the most careful questioning of the old-timers did not give us a clear idea of this almost forgotten tribe. It is known for certain that in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. myogirs were forced to leave their homes under the onslaught of the armed and well-organized Evenk tribe of Kindigirs. Having displaced the Moyogirs, the Kindigirs faced the need to defend their right to stay in the Barguzin Valley, which by that time was inhabited by the Mongolian nomads of the Barguts.
In Mongolian legends and chronicles it is mentioned that before the beginning of the Great conquests of Genghis Khan in the 13th century, the lands located between the Barguzin and Ikat ranges were considered very distant, and therefore they were called Bargudzhin-Tokum (Bargudzhin-tukhum), i.e. "The end of the world". The campaign of the Mongols of the Jochi ulus in Transbaikalia included the Barguzin Valley into the Great Mongol Power. From now on, the whole land around Lake Baikal began to be called Ara Mongol Dayda. It included Bargudzhin-Tokum with the valleys of the Onon and Kherlen rivers (the ancestral land of Genghis Khan's mother, Oelun-udzhin, who came from an Olkhunut clan that lived in the Barguzin Valley) and Mongoldzhin - the left bank of the Selenga River.
Mongolian influence lasted almost three centuries, although until the 17th century the inhabitants of the valley were predominantly Evenks. Over time, Buryat tribes migrated from the Onon steppes and Central Mongolia to Bargudzhin-Tokum, and already in the 18th century the Evenks occupied only northern part Barguzin Valley. In the same period, the active penetration of the Lamaist branch of Buddhism into Transbaikalia began.
Ultimately, over the centuries, the beliefs and mythology of the region have absorbed the Tungus-Manchu, Mongol, Buryat and Tibetan traditions. This explains why many ideas that exist in modern Buryat shamanism have such a large number of intersections with religious cults of other peoples of Central Asia, South Siberia and Transbaikalia.
The mythology of shamanism
Burkhanism, the cult of deity worship, can be considered the immediate predecessor of shamanism. According to Buryat mythology, the ancestor of all gods, Eehe-Burkhan, originally existed. Thanks to her, the first people appeared on earth. She gave birth to two daughters: the good Manzan Gurme from the Sun and the evil Mayas Hara (“ Black Moon») From the Month. The daughters of Eehe-Burkhan are considered the ancestors of the ten heavenly ones, divided, in turn, into evil and good. The Buryats believe that the land (Ulgen Ekhe) can only change due to the activities of the good Burkhans.
Soon, the earth separated from the sky, resulting in a fire, and a gap was formed, from which the human world appeared in the form of a small hill. This hill began to grow, and turned into a square land, the corners of which point exactly to the cardinal points. The center of the universe is the North Star Altan Gadas ("Golden stake") or Altan serge ("Golden hitching post").
This is how three parts of the universe appeared: the upper world, inhabited by good deities, the middle, in which people live, and the lower, where the dark forces of grandmother Mayas Hara found refuge. Similar cosmogonic myths can be found among the Evenks, in whose representation the three worlds are connected by the Engdekit River, in whose tributaries numerous spirits live.
As shamanism developed, the entire pantheon of deities acquired a clear hierarchy. In the upper world (Deed Zambi), 99 live with their families, children and grandchildren. They all have a human appearance. There are 55 good (western) and 44 evil (eastern) tengri. Among the latter, one of the most revered is Asarani Arban gurban-tengri - the head of all black shamans.
Tengri west and east oppose each other. At the same time, good forces often resort to magical weapons - lightning or the celestial stone Zada-shuluun (meteorite), which is brought down on the heads of eastern deities and their assistants, bringing illness and misfortune. Therefore, Zada-shuluun is considered the bearer of a magical gift associated with the initiation of a person into shamans.
Buryat myths say that in the middle (earthly) world (Teeli Zambi) there are 90 High mountains - 50 western ones, headed by Khaan Shargai and 40 eastern ones, subject to Dohshon Noyon, as well as 33 valleys, which together make up the Ara Mongol Dayda. The ancestor of all Evenk clans, Tarilan Ereen Bukha, and the earthly patron of black shamans, Boro Sharga, also live here. A lower position among the deities of this world is occupied by the owners of individual mountains - Khaan-khat-zaarin. The least powerful are local deities -, and.
The pronounced hierarchy of earthly deities is closely related to the concept of the Earth as a multi-tiered mountain. In particular, when performing various rituals of veneration of the eugene, a cairn of stones is erected, symbolizing a high mountain. We found such a pyramid at an ancient ob on the top of Mount Baragkhan.
The last, lower world (Dodo Zambi) is inhabited by various spirits (, etc.) under the leadership of Erlen Khan - the master of the underworld. The Buryats ascribe to him the role of the head of the evil eastern khans (kings), executing judgment in the world of the dead and eating bloody food.
Standing apart among all the deities are snake-like creatures that protect water element... They live deep at the bottom and do not show themselves to people, although they lead a similar lifestyle. In the Barguzin Valley with its vast water system (the Barguzin with its tributaries - the Argada and Ina rivers, numerous lakes, channels,) many reservoirs have their own lus, the day of special reverence for which is called Lusyn buudal.
The entire pantheon of Buryat deities dominates the vast territory of Ara Mongol Daida and is revered in the four cardinal directions as Zuun haad - from the east and northeast, Naran tala - from the south and Baruun haad - from the west. For the correct performance of the ceremony, the shaman must summon all the main and minor celestials to him, which requires deep knowledge. Most often, the invocation is performed in this order: ancestor ongons, masters of the area, lords of the mountains, stars, the Moon, the Sun and the masters of the High Sky.
Deities of Bargudzhin-Tokum
In Buryatia, there are several localities owned by high celestials. One of them is Bargudzhin-Tokum. Its owner, Khazhar-Sagaan-noyon, is one of the thirteen sons of the Tengri who descended into Teeli Zambi. According to local beliefs, he lives on Mount Baragkhan, one of the many peaks of the Barguzinsky ridge. If you draw a straight line through it from west to east, it will divide the Barguzin Valley exactly in half.
The mountain range in the Baragkhan region does not have direct access to Lake Baikal, so there are no such powerful winds as blowing near Kurumkan or Alla. Buryat old-timers from the village of Baragkhan believe that the power of Khazhar-Sagaan-noyon does not let the western winds sent by Gurban Khalkhin-tengri ("Three tengri of the western wind") into this part of the valley.
Despite the fact that Khazhar-Sagaan-noyon is an eastern (evil) deity, the locals call him the "White Lord". This name is given to both evil and good noyons. This emphasizes their heavenly origin. The fact that Bargudzhin-Tokum belongs to the evil deity of the Buryats does not bother. They believe that any malevolent force can be won over by showing them signs of attention and respect. Every year in May, at the foot of Baragkhan, a ritual of veneration for the Khazhar-Sagaan-noyon is held: shamans perform a special ritual, and Buddhist lamas perform. On this day, a big holiday is announced, which attracts people from all over the valley.
Bargudzhin-Tokum is conventionally divided into northern and southern parts. The first goes from the Dzherginsky reserve, where the Barguzinsky and Ikatsky ridges converge, to the villages of Kurumkan and Khonkhino. The owners of this, mostly Evenk, half are the eugens of the Allin Gorge. Evenk shamans say that the gorge is inhabited by three masters: the Alla River is owned by a female spirit, and the gorge itself and other territories of the north are owned by a man and a woman-eugene. The southern part, ending near the village of Barguzin, includes the Kuytun steppe, the Ina River and numerous channels of the Barguzin River. The ruler of this territory is the spirit of the Bukhe-Shuluun stone. The cult of bukhe ("bull") is widespread in the Baikal region, especially in the Tunkinsky and Zakamensky regions, and is not so typical for the Transbaikal region, therefore the case of the veneration of a bull in Bargudzhin-Tokum is very interesting.
Most of our interlocutors said that the eugene of the north and south serve Khazhar-Sagaan-noyon and recognize his dominion.
A special role is assigned to the Shene Galzhin area, where Buryat shamans have been buried since ancient times. It is located in the east of the Kuytun steppe, at the very foot of the Argadinsky ridge. The spirit dwelling there stands out among others in that it is associated with the souls of deceased shamans, and can help (or interfere) with the performance of various rituals and rituals. This influence is so great that some shamans of the north of Bargudzhin-Tokum include the spirit among the obligatory characters of their invocations.
Ordinary Buryats confine themselves to the veneration of the most famous Burkhans and roadsiders. Legends say that many in Barguzin-Tokum, especially those located along the Barguzin-Kurumkan road, were erected on the site of shaman graves. We saw such sacred places near the villages of Galgatai and Baragkhan.
Along Bargudzhin-Tokum, there are legends about Genghis Khan, who allegedly came here specially to worship some mountain peaks. Long time his figure was deified, and the cult of the commander itself existed in Buryatia until the end Xviii century, extinct under the pressure of Buddhism. Many ancestral legends did not retain any specific geographical names that could clarify exactly where in the valley he could visit. In the Mongolian historical chronicle of the 17th century "Altan Tobchi" ("Golden Legend"), we managed to find an indication that in 1202 the military leader Ong Khan, on the orders of Genghis Khan, went on a military campaign against the Merkit tribe and pursued them up to Bargudzhin-Tokum ( over 700 km). Means, Mongol army reached, at least, the area of the modern village of Barguzin. Five years later, the army of Genghis Khan's eldest son Jochi, who presumably reached the Argadinsky ridge, turned out to be in the same places. However, we did not find any historical evidence of Genghis Khan's stay in the Barguzin Valley.
The shaman's way
Ancient beliefs say that it is impossible to become a shaman of your own accord. For this, it is necessary from birth to have special inclinations, which a person, by the will of his ancestors, is endowed with even in the womb. These inclinations are called utkhe or shamanic root and include the abilities of healing, magic, fortune telling, clairvoyance, etc. The strength of any shamanic genus lies in maintaining continuity in the transmission of uthe. In the overwhelming majority of cases, a successor is sought among children born in the male line. For three last centuries in Buryatia, male shamanism prevails, although at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. the situation was the opposite. It should be noted that in the Buryat language the word "bo" is used to denote a shaman, and "udagan" is used for shaman women.
In rare cases, a shaman can be born in the form of a devil-man: he looks just like us, but his father is a spirit. The mother of such a child, as a rule, fell asleep under a lonely tree or rock. According to Buryat beliefs, moving around open areas, spirits like to stop in such places. If a girl is sleeping there, the spirit can have sexual intercourse with her. In this case, the girl has an erotic dream in which comes to her handsome man and seduces her. The great-grandmother of one of our interlocutors, after connecting with the spirit, gave birth to something that looked like an egg, which relatives buried far away from sin by the river, "so that nothing would hatch."
Be that as it may, before becoming a shaman, one must have had a shamanic disease (Ongon Daralga), during which a state close to death is experienced. The souls of dead shamans come to the chosen one and torture him for a long time, cut the body into pieces, pull out the bones and count them, drink the blood and pour it back into the vessels. During these painful trials, the ancestors pass on to their successor the intimate language used to communicate with the deities. During the illness, which can last from several months to several years, the shaman does not eat anything and practically does not drink. One Evenk shaman told us that during the tests he lost over 30 kg of weight. Healing occurs at the moment when the patient understands the need to become a shaman. If he opposes the will of his ancestors, their anger falls on the heads of his relatives and friends: they become seriously ill or suddenly die. In case of stubborn resistance of the chosen one, the ongons kill him.
If Ongon Daralga ends successfully, the newly minted needs to find a spirit servant who will help him in performing the rituals. The personality of a shaman largely determines what kind of spirit he will receive and educate. Based on this, shamans are divided into "white" and "black" bones. The first are good and are closely related to. They wear white silk clothes and ride white horses. The latter are distinguished by their spiteful, aggressive disposition. If such a shaman feels a lack of strength, he can engage in vampirism, taking energy from other people.
The very first spirit helping a shaman is very weak and small. He looks like a newborn, so he is fed with milk. Feeding is not to be taken literally. As a rule, it consists in the fact that milk is poured into a cup and little by little splashes into the air or on the ground. All action is accompanied by an appeal to departed ancestors. The more diligently you feed the spirit, the faster its strength and size grow. There is a mutual benefit between the shaman and the spirit: the spirit helps the shaman to fulfill the requests of people, receiving food and education in return.
As it grows, the spirit is not satisfied with one meal of milk. Then the chicken is sacrificed. The more powerful servant requires even more food, and a ram is slaughtered for him. The spirit that eats several rams is called anda and can take over the shaman. The next strongest spirit is the Rune. He completely dominates the shaman and requires a large sacrifice in the form of a horse. Rowones are so powerful that they can kill people and subjugate an entire family to their will. Their bloodlust grows every day: we were told of cases when spirits were exalted to such an extent that they demanded the blood of a child.
Unable to get rid of the roune on their own, the shamans turn to the lama for help. If he is strong enough, he performs a special ritual of liberation. This is an extremely dangerous occupation: in case of an unsuccessful outcome, a finally angry spirit can destroy both the lama and the shaman.
In "white" shamanism, you also need to enlist the support of a spirit that will help the shaman in exchange for food. True, raising spirits, "white" shamans do not bring them bloody sacrifices: milk, sweets, alcohol and smoke are used for food (smoldering cow dung serves as incense). All sacrificial animals are dedicated to deities, and not stabbed: after a special ritual, colorful pieces of fabric are woven into their wool, and they are inviolable until the end of their lives. No matter how much we searched, it was not possible to find other differences between “black” and “white” shamanism. Rumor has it that most "black" rituals are performed only at night. On this score, there are opposite opinions (the son of one of the "black" shamans gave us the words he heard from his father: "Only children believe that evil sleeps during the day").
During his life, the shaman undergoes several initiations (from 9 to 12). Shamans who received 9-12 initiations are found only in Mongolia; in Buryatia, the highest level is still considered to be 8. The very first initiation gives the shaman the right only for his kind with the assistance of the ongons.
The second initiation can be received only after three years. For this, the Ugaal rite is performed: bathing in water taken from nine springs (with the addition of goat's blood), boiled with nine red-hot stones from the river of the area where the shaman was born. Now he can sacrifice a white ram to eugens, zayans and other local deities.
Three years later, you can receive the third initiation, which opens up opportunities for communication with the ongons of the clan, the Burkhans of the valley and neighboring tribes living in the valley.
Having the fourth initiation, one can communicate with the rulers of the valley of any level.
The fifth initiation allows you to directly address the deities of Teeli zambi, make most types of sacrifices, enter the ongo trance state, lick hot iron and stones.
Having the sixth initiation, the shaman can make a sacrifice with a bull or a horse (up to nine heads of cattle at a time), as well as lead large prayers.
To take the seventh initiation, the shaman is released from the yurt through the chimney, after which he is put on a white felt, washed with the blood of a red horse and an arshan boiled on hot stones from Lake Baikal. Nine bottles are poured onto his head. After this procedure, he acquires the right to initiate beginners into shamans and invoke tengri. Maybhashi, a metal crown with horns, becomes its attribute.
The eighth initiation makes it possible to invoke rain and snow, as well as invoke the deities of all three worlds (Deed Zambi, Teeli Zambi and Dodo Zambi).
The ninth (the highest, according to some) initiation allows one to visit all three worlds in a state of ongo, to fly and soar in the air, to cause storm, snow and hail.
We were unable to find out how higher initiations take place: all the interlocutors unanimously asserted that there are no people in Buryatia who are capable of conducting rituals of this level. Lamas who have visited Mongolia (for example, Phuntsog Lama) have not seen such sacraments either. With great difficulty, we still managed to find a person who had heard from their ancestors about the peculiarities of the twelfth initiation. It seems to allow the shaman to be in different places at the same time and to de-incarnate from the body at will. If he represents a "black" bone, then he becomes a terrifying demon, which can only be stopped by the angry deities of the Buddhist pantheon (,).
The Buryats believe that the true power of a powerful shaman manifests itself immediately after death, which is accompanied by various signs: floods, landslides, earthquakes, strong thunderstorms, hurricane winds and gigantic fires. Buryats and Evenks have different ritual actions performed with the body of a shaman after his death. If the Buryats buried a shaman in the ground or tied him to a tree trunk, then according to Evenk traditions, the body was cut into pieces and handed out to fellow tribesmen as a priceless relic.
End life path does not mean complete disappearance from the middle world. The soul of a shaman can become one of the local Burkhans or incarnate into a bird (eagle or vόron). The eagle cult has very ancient roots. In Buryat mythology, the bald eagle (Burkhan shubuun) was the first to receive a shamanic gift from his father Ute Babai, the owner of Olkhon Island. Legends say that a person who kills or wounds an eagle must soon die.
In Bargudzhin-Tokum, it is believed that the souls of shamans guard their burials. In fact, having visited one of the burials in the Kuytun steppe, we saw such a number of eagles and other birds of prey that we have not seen in any other place in the valley. Perhaps this is due to the abundance of small rodents, although other explanations should not be ruled out. Until now, local residents try to bypass the shamanic cemeteries, and if they find themselves nearby, they must perform some kind of ceremony of veneration of the ongons. They say that today no one remembers which shamanic bone, “black” or “white,” is buried in this or that place. Therefore, just in case, it is better to enlist the help of ancestors and appease disembodied souls.
Reading time: 4 minutes
The secret of rejuvenation
Here is another case when people mysteriously regain their youth.
HUNGRY TIME
Before, I would have been ashamed to talk about this. And now I am 66 years old, and there is so much around that it was sinful and scary to even think about before, so now this story does not look so terrible. In general, it was in 1985. My children and I received an apartment in a new nine-story building on the outskirts of the city. Only one thing overshadowed my joy: they could not transfer my disability pension to me from another area where we had lived before. Then it turned out that my surname was spelled incorrectly during the paperwork. Since I was raising children alone, we started starving without money.
And somehow my children - 14-15 years old - found out that there is an abandoned fruit-nursery very close, across the river. I didn't want to go stealing apples, and even on the eve of " women's day". However, the children wanted to eat at least something. They persuaded me to go fishing in the evening, they say, everything is probably already collected in the garden, so at least we will recruit the Padans, dry them and hold out.
THE WATCHER
We went fishing when it was getting dark. Everything was going well. But to our misfortune, one of the sons unsuccessfully climbed onto an apple tree, and the sound of a broken branch echoed around like a shot. The nursery turned out to be not so abandoned. Out of nowhere, a security guard on a horse-drawn cart - an elderly Tatar - flew to the crackle. He did not notice the children, I managed to tell them to hide. Seeing me, the watchman shouted that I immediately get into the cart and that he would take me to register my detention and fine. Hearing about the fine, I forgot my fear. "Ah well! - think. - For the third month the state has not paid me a pension, it does not give me work, and now it will also rip off the money from me?
I did not answer, only, seething with anger, got into the cart, intending to make a scandal in his office later. Then I noticed that in the cart there were many homemade rag bags and each was filled to the brim with food: apples, cucumbers, potatoes, pea pods. I remember that I was still surprised that the guard was carrying cucumbers. They should have moved away long ago. I calmed down, thinking: “Maybe try to pity the old man? What if he will let the Padants go to dial? " And I began to tell him about my misfortune. The old man listened to me and became more and more worried, glancing in my direction and hurrying the horse. I felt uneasy. I feel that it is not my story that excites him, but I as a woman. I would have jumped off, but he took my bag. An empty rag bag, but a pity. I have no other!
RUSH
And suddenly the watchman asks me:
- How old do you think I am?
- I, - I say, - do not know how to guess the age.
She glanced around: stout, stocky, bearded.
- Well, all the same? What do you think I am an old man? Yes?
- Well, yes, - I say, - elderly. I don’t know how many years. Maybe 62, maybe 72.
The old man laughed:
- But you almost guessed it. I am 78 years old. And I look 62. I know how to be young!
And it makes no difference to me. I myself have always looked much younger than my years.
I think: "I would have grabbed a bag, and the first one that came with it, and run." But for some reason I couldn't even move, let alone jump off the cart. As if bewitched.
- Have you decided to run? - asked the Tatar. - Nobody has run away from me yet.
And, pleased, he laughed.
And from the very, directly physically I feel, the strength of a bear blows. “Damn it,” I think. "Does he read my thoughts or feel them like that?"
- Wait, wait we will drive up to my house, - the old man worried. - We'll do everything quickly, and you will go home.
- What will we do? - I was alerted.
- What needs to be done. We will write down, arrange ...
At the same time, he himself sniffs like a beast. I felt uneasy at all. The old man noticed this and how the horse whipped! She rushed at full speed, and the old man grabbed my hand and held, afraid that I would jump off and get away. The cart is shaking, and it is even more.
I WILL NOT TRIP YOU!
We drove up to the Golden Mine (this is a village half a kilometer from the city and our house). The watchman's dwelling turned out to be the last one in the village. He led the horse into the yard, quickly unharnessed.
“Get off and unload your bags,” he told me. - Take everything to the barn.
Here's another! I didn't even budge. In the meantime, along the street, a Russian woman was walking in our direction with buckets on a yoke. She saw us, threw the rocker by the road, only the buckets rattled, and rushed back, looking around as she ran.
I looked around. The Tatar's house turned out to be strong, blocky. I see - in the window, an old Tatar woman of about 90 years old, neat, in a white kerchief tied up in the Tatar style. He looks happily, smiles affectionately. The Tartar quickly took all the bags to the barn himself, and then he began to shake again. He grabbed me in an armful, dragged me into the barn and began to whisper incoherently:
- Don't be afraid, I won't do anything to you. I will not touch you. I’ll only smell you. I’ll only smell it, ”he himself kneeled in front of me and buried his nose in my trousers.
I push him away. What a shame! I have my period! And he breathes in deeply: one, and two, and three. Finally he got up.
- So that is all. And you were afraid, - said the old man. - I told you I won't.
I see, he is thrusting bags of groceries into my hands.
- Take whatever you want.
- You, - I say, - have you seen? The woman looked at you through the window when you dragged me into the barn. Your mother or who? Oh, and it will get you! Will scold! What will he think ?!
- He'll think well, - the old man laughs. - This is my wife. She's glad I brought you in. She knows what I was doing. Now she is preparing, waiting for me, she will be happy.
He thrust four bags into me and pushed me over the fence. The woman in the window darted deeper into the house. Her eyes shone with joy.
“A family of perverts of some sort,” I muttered. - Psychos are abnormal!
WHAT DID HE DO?
The people gathered behind the fence, about eight or ten people. Everyone stared at me with cheerful, inquisitive eyes. Out of shame, I was ready to fall through the earth.
- Well, what ?! the young man asked. - What did he do to you?
- Nothing! - I answered, and my cheeks flushed.
- Right now, I'll ask her myself, - stepped forward a young steep-hip beautiful woman, the one who, seeing me, threw the buckets.
Don't worry, ”she said confidentially. - We do not think anything bad about you. We saw that he just took you into the barn and quickly released you. But did he manage to do something? You see, he is not the first to catch you, and he will definitely catch the one who has her period. You've got your period, right? Nobody knows what he does with women, but only soon he and his wife are getting younger. This is the last time his wife grew younger from 80 to 45! And now she looks like an old woman again. All of our people want to know the secret. Tell me, what did he do to you?
“He smelled,” I replied.
The meaning of her words did not reach me well.
- Is that all? - the woman was surprised. - And what did you do at the same time? - shouted a young blue-eyed man. - Words, maybe he said what special, what object was he holding or waving with what?
“No,” I say. - He just buried his nose in my pants, inhaled three times and let go.
“Ah-ah,” the woman said to the crowd. “She doesn't know anything either.
The crowd dispersed in disappointment, but I hurried home.
I didn't know what to say to the children, where I had been disappearing all this time. But everything was decided by itself. I put my bags down. They contained large, strong cucumbers, corn cobs, potatoes, carrots, onions and apples.
“My grandfather regretted that we were starving,” I told the children somehow easily. - Here, I singled it out. His whole barn is full of these bags.
They were quite satisfied with this explanation.
A YOUNG COUPLE
Once a year later, I let a Tatar friend of mine, I don’t remember, on what occasion, about this story.
- This is true. Some of our men sometimes like to sniff women, ”she confirmed and begged me to show where that Tatar lives.
I denied it for a long time, but still gave up.
We approached the Tatar court. Their yard is only fenced with poles, everything is visible through the fence. We look, a young girl left the house, tied with a handkerchief in the Tatar style. Itself flexible, thin, like a blade of grass, about 18-20 years old. She was carrying something into the summer kitchen.
- Saumysyz, - said my friend, they say, hello.
- Saumysyz, - the girl answered, stopping.
Throwing a mischievous, cheerful look at me, she shouted to me: "Rakhmat!" ("Thank you!") And jumped to the summer kitchen.
Then a slender young guy of about 25 came out of the house: neat, fit. Seeing us, he put his hips on his hips and put his leg to the side. He looked at my friend and shouted to her:
- I know why I came here! Only I don't need you. I myself choose and bring whoever I want here!
Turned to me:
- Well, now how many years will you give me? And, I forgot, you don’t know how to guess your age, ”and laughed at the young Basque. I rushed home no worse than that girl, forgetting about my friend.
- Maybe you want to visit us? - the former old man shouted after me. - So I do not mind!
Larisa Shebaldova, Chelyabinsk
Shamanic tales
PIKE FROM THE SKY
This story was told to me by Ivan Alekseevich Tataev. During his childhood, he lived with his family far from people. The father was the only breadwinner, but one day he left somewhere and did not return for a long time. Almost all of the products have run out. And then a familiar Yakut comes to visit them, and they have absolutely nothing to regale the guest with.
The mother apologized, explaining their position. She gave me tea, having collected some of the supplies. And in the evening, a heavy downpour suddenly began, but almost immediately died down, as if there was nothing.
And then the guest suddenly invited the children to go outside and look for what heaven gave them. On the street around our house, large puddles formed, and small fish swam in them, even pikes came across.
The heavenly catch was cooked and everyone ate their fill. Only here the guest did not eat, so hungry and left. The mother explained that it was a shaman and fish fell from the sky at his request.
By the way, the Yakut people have collected many stories in which shamans easily get the things they need for their guests. For example, a bunch of leaf tobacco suddenly fell on the shaman's bed in full view of everyone, and he told the guests that he had taken it from the chest of a friend who was far, far away.
Angry
One afternoon Okoneshnikov went hunting. It must be said that his dog team was one of the best in the whole district. But when climbing to the other side of the river, his sled seemed to stick - the dogs were exhausted, but could not move it.
Those who saw off came, curious gathered, began to help, but nothing worked. They even tried to chop off a sled near the ground with an ax, but this did not help either. The deputy chairman of the collective farm Zhirkov approached. He suggested to Kenka (as we called the hunter among ourselves) not to break the sled, but to untie the dogs and go to the shaman to make up, even gave him a bottle of alcohol for this business.
It turns out that the day before in the office of the collective farm, a drunken Kenka angered the shaman, saying: "You are a weak shaman, try to do something with me, nothing will work."
Zhirkov with difficulty persuaded the frightened hunter to go into the house of the shaman Aigaa. We talked, drank, and at parting the shaman said to Kenka:
“Don't try to talk about shamans like that anymore. Now go to sleep, and tomorrow go, the sled will come off and slide.
According to the laws of physics, it is hardly possible to explain this, but the fact that several healthy men with the help of the best team of dogs, they could not move the sled - a fact. I saw it with my own eyes.
Alexey Yaglovsky, Republic of Sakha
This story was told by one of the shamans of the Gitksan tribe in 1920.
I became a shaman-doctor many years ago, when I was thirty years old.
Once I went into the forest to collect firewood for a fire. It was getting dark, and it began to get dark in the forest. As I was about to go home, a loud noise was heard in the branches of the trees and a huge owl flew over me. The owl rushed at me and grabbed my face with its claws, trying to lift me off the ground. I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, it turned out that I was lying in the snow, high on the side of the mountain. My head was covered with ice, and my mouth was bleeding. I got up with difficulty and hobbled home. The trees around me shook and bent, and the fallen branches crawled after me like snakes.
In the end, I got home - and what happened after that, I can hardly remember. I only remember that two shamans from neighboring settlements tried to revive me.
A few days later, when my strength recovered, the shamans told me that it was time for me to become one of them. But I didn't take it seriously, as my life as a hunter was fine with me.
The next time I went to the forest, I again saw an owl sitting on the branches of a tree. Immediately I heard strange sounds that fell from the owl's beak straight into my head.
My heart began to beat very quickly, I began to tremble, and my blood seemed to be heating up like boiling water.
The words of the song in an unfamiliar language began to burst out of my mouth by themselves.
Many strange things flashed before my eyes. I saw unusual fish and animals, and a huge bird Mesquader, which called me with it.
When I got home, the visions would not let me go, but no one in the village could hear or see the spirits except me.
I did not understand many of those songs that were themselves composed within me, but I tried to remember them, repeating them over and over again.
I was very weak, could not go hunting and spent all the time at my parents' house, who fed me and looked after me.
About a year later, shamans from all the surrounding places gathered near my bed. They told me that now I must use the powers that have descended on me and heal the people of my tribe.
It is known that all diseases are brought by spirits or objects enchanted by spirits, or evil spells. You can cure a person if you extract from him the cause of the disease that is inside him. It is impossible to look inside a person, but a shaman can use magic talismans that will pull the disease out of the body.
Old shamans taught me how to get talismans. This can be done in a dream. After a while I had such invisible talismans "ferret", "boat", "bear trap", "moon".
My first patient was the wife of a leader whose full name it was Niskiav-romralaustelgyens, which meant "The little box in which the berries are picked." She had been ill for a long time and no one could cure her. I went to her house and the first thing I did was ask them to start a fire.
I sat down myself and dozed off in the warmth. Immediately I saw a dream - a lot of people sitting in a huge boat, and the boat was not simple, but alive, like a huge otter. I asked the old shamans what I should do, and they said that I should try to pull the boat out of the woman, since this is her illness.
I told my relatives to split the fire in two and began to walk up and down the aisle between the fires while other shamans sang and beat drums. Then I put my hand on the woman's belly and tried to push the disease higher. In the end, I moved the disease to my chest, under the skin, contrived to grab it and pulled it out.
Two days later, the leader's wife got out of bed. She was healed.
The mystical abilities of Yakut shamans are associated with numerous external “artifacts”. Among other things, there is the concept of "oyuun maha" (shaman-tree). It is difficult to say unequivocally what it is, since each source puts forward its own version of the explanation. There are three main versions: a) this is a tree where the shaman encloses a part of his power in order to restore strength from it in case of need; b) this is the tree where the shaman's parent animal nests (if it is a bird); c) this is a kind of special "artifact" inherent only to predatory shamans. In general, the issue is not clear. It is only known that the shaman tree is not a particularly noticeable tree and is most often located in a dense forest, as if the shamans were trying to hide their tree and make it inconspicuous. At the same time, it is believed that the shaman tree retains mystical properties even after the death of the shaman himself. The story described below is connected with this concept.
It was in Soviet times, in the 70s. It was autumn, and a village family set out into the forest to pick lingonberries. Since the surrounding meadows were all already developed by the inhabitants of their village, they decided to go deeper into the forest in the hope of finding a fertile place. We arrived on a dirt road in our GAZik into a dense forest, got out of the car and began to disperse. The head of the family, Alexei, like everyone else, with buckets and a bucket-"harvester" went to look for berries. From time to time, people shouted over, so as not to get lost. Alexei soon realized that the place was barren, and that he needed to go further. Already about to return to the car, he nevertheless took a few more steps, walked literally a dozen meters and almost cried out in surprise: under his feet the ground was simply reddened by ripe berries, and such large ones that he had never seen in his life. Alexei sat down, ran the "combine" a couple of times over the berry bushes, and the bucket immediately became half full. Shouting to his own people to run to him as soon as possible, the head of the family began enthusiastically picking berries.
The bucket was filled to the brim in just five minutes. Satisfied, Alexei sat down to smoke, once again calling his family members. He sat, smoked, rejoiced in his luck and noticed that a larch was growing on the edge of a fertile place. A tree is like a tree - big, old, branched. Alexei was interested in the fact that there was a hollow in the tree, and the head of some bird was peeping out from there. Alexei got up, looked closer and realized that it was not a living bird, but a bird-shaped toy carved out of wood. Alexei was surprised where such a thing came from in the forest, but did not attach much importance to it. Then he wanted to relieve himself, and without hesitation, he urinated on that very larch, since he did not want to spoil the berries. Having finished this matter, Alexey listened to see if family members were already coming - but no, it was quiet. He loudly called his wife: "Ma-a-ash!". The wife immediately responded, her voice came very close. Alexey could not understand what exactly she said and asked: “What?”. The wife again uttered something from behind the nearby trees, but again it was very unintelligible, and she was not visible. Alexei called his son: "Valera!" Before he could close his mouth, right above his ear, the son muttered: "Yes, here I am, turn around." Alexey turned around - no one, only a wooden bird in a hollow had changed its position and was now looking directly at him. It was then that Alexei felt shivers run down his spine. Forgetting about the bucket and the "combine", he started to run. He wandered through the forest for a long time, almost got lost, but at last he heard the cries of his own people and went out to them. The wife, son and daughter said that they had not heard any cries - they say, he just stopped answering them at some point, they themselves got worried and went to look for him. Alexei was ashamed of his panic and did not tell them anything about the devilry - he just said that he had found a fertile place. Everyone began to look for that "field of miracles", walked back and forth for an hour, but they did not find anything close. We were upset because of the lost bucket and bucket, but what can we do - we left for another place.
Soon thereafter, Alexei began to suffer from a rash of unknown origin. A red rash covered his entire body from crown to heels, causing excruciating itching. Alexey went to hospitals, doctors, healers - all to no avail. In winter, exhaustion was added to the rash - Alexey could hardly get out of bed on his own, he lost tens of kilograms. In the end, on the advice of his friends, he summoned a man from a neighboring village who was reputed to be "knowledgeable." He came, examined him carefully and said literally the following: "You have violated the line somewhere - you have been where you should not have been, did what you should not have done." I began to ask about what was happening to Alexei for Last year... It was then that Alexei remembered a strange incident in the forest. The man became very interested in this incident and suggested that Aleksey had stumbled upon a shaman tree and inadvertently insulted him - perhaps by the fact that he began to unceremoniously profit from the good that grew under him, maybe by urinating on him - or maybe, the tree was caught by itself "evil". "In any case," he said, "you need to go back to that place, find the tree and apologize to it, bring the gifts." Moreover, Alexei should have done it alone - if he looked for a tree in the company, he would never find it.
And in the January frosts, the sick Alexei got down to go to the winter forest several times a week. The trouble was that he did not remember the place exactly, and the tree shaman could easily not let himself be found. But Alexei did not give up trying until the end of winter - he walked the forest along the road along and across. And in the spring he died of exhaustion, never finding that mysterious place. The shaman tree did not appear to him a second time. Not forgiven.