The Tuvan Shamanism and Its Features

1 Introduction

The Tuvans are a Turkic ethnic group living in Mongolia, Russia and China. In Mongolia, the Tuvans have inhabited in different aimags (provinces) with other ethnic groups. The largest population of Tuvans in Mongolia are in the Tsengel Sum of Bayan-Ölgii Aimag and Khovd Aimag, whereas The Dukha Tsaatan, fewer than 40 families, live in Khövsgöl Aimag. The Tuvans traditionally lived in yurt dwellings as nomadic herders of sheep, camels, horses in the Western Mongolia. There are two main areas where the Tsaatan community, ethnic minority in Mongolia, lives and herds reindeer, called the East Taiga and West Taiga respectively. Tsagaan nuur village is located between these two areas. The indigenous Tsaatan people (Dukha), originally from the Tuva region of Russia, inhabite with their family in a urts (a teepee – like tents) in this remote and inaccessible region of northern Mongolia, at the foot of the eastern Sayan mountains at an altitude of over 1640 m. The Tsaatan, the last nomadic reindeer herders in Mongolia, herd reindeer not only for riding, milking and meat, even materials like dung for fuel, antlers for tools, and hair for clothes, but also, they sell to local traders, what that means is that the Tsaatan make their living through herding of reindeer. In the far north of Mongolia, the Tsaatan shaman A. Goosta, considered the powerful shaman among the Tsaatan community, also the world because he cured an American autistic boy, performed rituals at the sites in the Taiga where the presence of spirits is most strongly felt.

Shamanism is one of the oldest religious practices and beliefs. Tuvan shamanism is part of the Siberian shamanic tradition. The ancient religion of the Tuvans is shamanism, therefore, they have kept the practice of shamanism alive and their nomadic civilization in its origin. In the past decades, shamanism has played an important role in the Tuvans’ lives. Before 1990 shamanism in Mongolia had been under attack from the state government; therefore, it was driven underground. Tuva shamanism was harshly repressed during the Soviet domination of the Mongolian People’s Republic. Despite this, shamanism flourishes once again and is practiced openly after collapse of communism in the beginning of 1990s. Shamanism is still practiced by minorities such as Tsaatans, Darkhads, and Tuvans in Mongolia because Tuvan shamans who practice in the Tuvan language consider that shamanism is the spiritual tradition. The Tuvans worship the Altais, the Sun, the Moon, the Blue Sky, mountains and water as their main idols. Tuvans who live near the Altais in the Western Mongolia worship the rich Altai and the Blue Sky whereas the Tsaatans who live in the Taiga worship the Great Taiga with trees, water and earth. Shamans are the most respected, and feared members of the community.

According to the 2002 national census, there are 3800 Tuvans in Mongolia. Tuvans are mainly descendants of nomadic groups of Turkified Mongols and speak a Turkic language (National population Census 2002). Only 10 % of the Tuvans in Khovd province speak their native language. The number of elders who have knowledge of their history, customs, tradition, the unique way of life and language are declining from day to day. Therefore, we all, the generation of Tuvans, must learn and inherit our language, history and customs from the elders and try to protect and preserve the heritage. Most importantly, we need the help from the government to protect our unique language, culture and the way of life. Since the 90s, young and old shamans reappeared again, awakened by their ancestral spirits and the number of practicing shamans has grown rapidly in Mongolia. The main purpose of the work is to study the tuvan shamanism and reveal its specific features. By studying tuvan shamanism, researchers and other people gain a deeper understanding the culture and language of the ethnic minority – Tuvans living in different parts of Mongolia. Many research works have been done to improve the immunity of language and culture, and protect them in certain methods. Due to the process of worldwide modernization and globalization, tuvan language, culture and the way of life are in danger of going extinct.

Tuvan shamanism has its unique features. Shamanism in Mongolia is hereditary. It means a child or relative of a shaman will become a shaman. One of the key features of the tuvan shamanism is that a shaman performs in the tuvan language during a ritual. By performing rituals, the shaman becomes the guide and messenger between the spirits of Dark World and the human beings of Sunny world. A spirit is the most important to a shaman, who communicates with it during shamanic rituals. Notably, a shaman is considered as a guide and a messenger of the spirits, a fortuy neteller, a healer and an interpreter of dreams and the bridge of passing of traditions from generation to generation. The concept of what a shaman practices a shamanic ritual is that a shaman enters into a trance state in the invisible world with the help of his spirits. During the ritual, male (Zayran) and female (Udugen) shamans perform many functions by traveling into in a trance state, not only communicating human beings to the spirits, but also foretelling the future and healing someone who is suffering illness or soul loss and experience rituals. Also, a shaman with the guardian power of spirits forces out misfortune and evil spirits. It is clear from the observations that it is believed in the tuvan shamanic tradition, shamans of ancestral lineage are gifted with ability of healing and foretelling by clairvoyance, and interacting with the spirits. In tuvan shamanism, there is only a hereditary shaman and s/he becomes a shaman in two ways, with help of his/her spirits or a shaman tutor. It is important to add that when a shaman enters into a trance state to communicate with spiritual beings, then his spirits possess the shaman’s body. A shaman gives offerings to Lus-Savdag, the Masters of water and land, because the belief of Tuvan shamanism is that all of living creatures and natural things in this universe, even plants have their own souls and guardian spirits. According to shamanism, there are three kinds of spirits: bone spirit blessed by father, flesh spirit blessed by mother and mental spirit blessed by heaven (Purev 2007, 45–47).

One of the Shamanic beliefs is to worship of the Eternal Heaven or the Blue Sky and the Mother Earth. The universe is divided into three places: Above us is the sky, the Heavenly Father, and below us is Mother-Earth, between Heavenly Father and Mother Earth lies the Sunny world, between the sky and the earth, where all living creatures, human beings and animals inhabit. According to Mongolian shamanism, there are water spirits (lus) and mountain spirits (savdag). Lus and Savdag, respectively the Masters of water and land, can be harmful to human being, if people do not properly worship and respect them. Lus are snakes are associated to the aquatic whereas Savdag is linked to the dirt, land, mountains and rocks. In view of these facts, it is quite likely that Lus-Savdag tend to take revenge on the human beings who damage and harm them. By the logic of shamanism, what this means is that one should learn to respect the environment instead of polluting water, breaking the trees, digging the soil, putting waste into rivers, oceans, etc. That is the reason why a shaman gives offerings to Lus-Savdag, the Masters of water and land, to pacify them.

It is believed that a shaman has the power to heal the sick, communicate with his spirits wherever he is and a shaman is viewed as a bridge between the community and the spiritual world, escorts souls of the dead to the afterlife whose power to help and to heal comes from the Spirits. The shaman would dance, sing, communicate, heal and drink and taste everything the spirits ask and be exhausted by all of the performances. During rituals, through communication with his spirits a shaman asks the reasons caused illness and problems and a shaman tries to find solutions. As mentioned earlier, shamans played a central role in the nomadic community as a medium between the Sunny world and the spiritual world. Individuals come to ask a shaman with all sorts of questions, such as, what to do with her unreliable spouse, if his business could be successful, etc.

Another interesting topic that had caught the attention of several researchers is that how to verify the quality of being a shaman, and it is difficult to determine just by appearances of him or her, because it is hidden. In the Tuvan shamanism, sometimes animal sacrifices and mountain rites, cairn rites which are related to the traditions and rituals of worshipping the earth as mother, the Master of land are parts of shamanic rituals and. When a Tsaatan shaman dies, the enshrined things used by the shaman are kept in a special tent built in a forest in Huvsgul. The Tsaatans say that anyone should not enter in this sacred place and take these things, because they believe that if someone touched the enshrined things, he would have misfortune. Three years after a shaman’s death, his spirit will come back to the relatives or return to his lineage and it is called “transmission of spirit”. One of his family members or relatives becomes sick with “shaman hysteria” and might treat only by shamanic rituals – it means the way to get rid of the ‘sickness” is to become a lineal shaman who receives the spirits of his or her ancestral spirits and becomes a shaman. Someone who helps and interprets the shaman during a ritual is called the shaman’s helper or Tushee or interpreter (díljí).

With help of a shaman’s clothing and tools, a shaman can travel up to Heaven to meet their Ongons. Shamanic tools and clothes can be used as a communication means to transmit and receive reply of a shaman and people’s desire by fortunetelling and a protector against attack from evil spirits and provide a means of making music to please the spirits. Shamans wear special clothes for religious rituals. The clothing of a tuvan shaman consists of headwear (kham bürt), gown (kham hep, kham ton) and footwear (kham edik) and a shaman who dressed with all of those is considered as an ‘armored shaman’; therefore, it means a shaman with his shaman clothes is the most powerful and protected one by his guardian spirits. The shaman headwear is a major part of a shaman’s clothing. The top of the Altai shaman’s headwear is enclosed like a hat, but Tsaatan shaman’s hat is open. It is considered that through the open area the spirits of the shaman enter. The archeologist Ts. Dorjsuren investigated an open headdress found in grave six of the tombs at Haraa’s Noyon Uul and determined that it was a shaman headdress of the Hunnu Dynasty period (Dorjsuren 1961, 28). In view of this fact, it is quite likely that the Tuvan shamanism is kept alive their ancestors’ shamanic features from the ancient time. The Tsaatan shaman’s headwear is decorated with owl feathers, decorations, tassels and images of an eagle, animals and symbols of a human face and ears and on the edges of the headwear. As research, carried out by Kenin-Lopsan demonstrates, eagle or owl feathers were tied onto the top of Tuvan shaman’s headwear (Kenin-Lopsan 1987, 50).

The shaman’s clothing demonstrates the tribal origin of the shaman, tuva shaman’s headwear is always reddish brown and a blue gown. The feathers and the images of a shaman headwear vary depending on the tribes’ origin of a shaman; therefore, they can be used to clarify the tuvan shamanism from the other ethnic groups’ shamanism. For a Tsaatan shaman, cloth fringes, feathers of great goose and eagle, mussels, buttons are attached and image of human’s face is drawn on the headwear, while copper mirrors, owl feathers, sable skin, bead fridges are hooked up on the headwear of the Altain tuvan shaman. The number of feathers on the headwear could express the number of generations in the family and their tribal differences. A Tuvan shaman’s headwear is in rectangle shape, 60 cm long, reddish brown, there is no any image on it. Owl feathers, a weasel skin, a fringe or tassel (manjig) with the same length, and an ancient coin are attached to each side of the headwear. The Tsaatan shaman’s gown is made from doeskin, it is a symbol of his guardian spirit.

The belief of Tuvan shamanism that makes these costumes and tools important and valuable is that it has a power and a sacredness. It has been observed that for tuvan shamans it important to preserve the shaman’s gown except for ritual use and store in a special place within their urts or teepee or yurt, especially in leather bags protecting from damaging because of nomadic life style. A gown of a tuvan shaman is made from reddish brown cloth and doeskin (Kenin Lopsan 1987, 45). The various figures and symbols which are attached on the gown are made using wood, leather and metals besides animal skin. Representations of snakes which are made from twisting wool rope and covered in cloths of different colors are called fringes or tassels (manjig) and these snake figures are stitched onto the shaman’s gown. Wool is used, because sheep is considered the gentlest domestic animal. Tsaatan shamans have a prayer tassel (manjig) originated from Mongolian word “to pray, bestow”. At beginning of a shamanic ritual, a Tsaatan shaman receives a blessing by touching the prayer fringe or tassel (manjig) while the Altain tuvans do not use this kind of fringe – a prayer fringe. A fringe or tassel (manjig) is considered as a kind of guardian tool. Similarly to those of Darhad shaman’s gown, these fringes or tassels (manjigs) of Tuvan shaman are classified into two types: body and prayer. The body manjigs are divided into four groups of breast, arm, shoulder-blade and back. Tuvans oldest late shamaness J. Javzan’s husband, the powerful shaman B, Ganbaa, had a total of 81 body manjigs with various colors on his gown. A tuvan shaman gowns should be without a belt comparing to those of other ethnic groups. O. Purev, a historian and ethnologist, demonstrated that according to the Secret history of Mongolia as a boy, Temuujin used to take off his belt when he worshipped the Burhan Haldun mountain, saying “I will honour the Burhan Haldun every morning and pray to it every day …” with these words he turned towards the sun, his belt around his neck and his cap hanging over his hand, beat his breast and knelt nine times to offer a libation and prayer to the sun (Purev 2007, 177). This indicates that ancient Mongolian shaman believers prayed to Heaven and Lus without a belt. Three tethers with iron items and 27 bells and 10-cm-dm mirrors are attached on the gown. The tether is an important indication of a shaman’s experience. A tuvan shaman considers his footwear which are made from the skin of mountain goat, wolf and leather are the hind legs of a doe, which was depicted on his drum.

A Tuvan shaman’s paraphernalia, including the shaman drum (tuva: dűngűr), drumstick (orba), mouth organ (khomus) and mirror (kűzűngű) have several functions in shamanic rituals. They are also called shaman’s live paraphernalia (tuv. Kamnyn tirig herekseli). In the Ancient Turkic dictionary, ‘tir’ means ‘to live’, ‘tirig’ – ‘alive’ and ‘tiril’- ‘live!’ (Nadelyaev and Nasilov 1969, 561). This paper explores some functions and features of the Tuvan shaman’s tools. For example, the Tuvan shaman’s tools are transport means for the shaman and Spirits, offer protection against attack from enemies, provide a means of making music to please the Spirits and heavens and can be used as a communication means to transmit and receive reply of a shaman and people’s desire by fortune telling. Tuvan shamans believe that each piece of shaman paraphernalia has its own guardian spirit. The drum Figure 1 is used to call from the Dark World and to send spirits back to where they came from. What this means is that beating a drum and singing help to enter and deepen the trance state. The shamans go to meet their spirits with drums and mouth organ and summon their spirits into their bodies. S. Badamkhatan who conducted several field studies in the 1960s in Huvsgul province, wrote: the henggeregs of Darhad shaman act as mounts for their Ongons (Badamkhatan 1965, 212). According to the customs of the Tsaatan (reindeer herders), the drum (henggereg) was the means of traveling up to Heaven to meet their Ongons. Therefore, being the mount of spirits is one of functions of a drum. The main function of a drum is to help the shaman to enter a trance state by its rhythms, along with songs and dance moves. The drum’s skin is made of deerskin, because a reindeer is so fast animal, therefore a drum is considered as a vehicle of a shaman and a shaman can travel to the Dark world as fast as a reindeer. A drum and a mouth organ perform many roles, such as making a sound, healing, helping a shaman goes into trance and carrying the guardian spirits invoked by a shaman.

Figure 1:

Tuvan drum (Source: from the article writer’s research resources).

At the beginning, a new shaman is taught by a teacher or an instructor along with help of the new shaman’s ancestral spirits. A drumming ritual leads to the connection between the spirits and the communities in the Sunny world. The drum is one –sided, so that the shaman’s Spirits can ride inside it. Tuvan shaman covers only one side of his drum with a reindeer skin in order to protect him from harm, an enemy and evil spirits. The figure of the animal killed to cover the drum skin is drawn on the side of the drum. Some Tuvan shamans have a circular and a triangular framework covered with wolf and bearskin. In 2015, during field work I met a shaman from Bayan-Ulgii province who had a triangular drum. A shaman who had a triangular drum which protect him from bad evils is called a black shaman. It is considered that a black shaman with a triangular drum is able to call Black Heavens in order to cast curses. “The black shaman” does not mean a color like “brown or black”, but it means “original or inherited”. Like other Mongolian ethnic groups, Tuvan shamans make the frames of the drums from larch that had been struck down by thunder lightening. Before cutting down the tree chosen for the frame of drum, the shaman performs a certain ritual, such as tying a cloth or tsuuldir (chalaama), burning some juniper incense (artísh) and offering milk libation (sut kudŭrer).

Like the body of living creatures, it is considered that a drum consists of the back, limes, joints and blood vessels; therefore, these are represented on a shaman drum. A single wooden handle represented a back. The drum becomes a vehicle and an assistant to travel to the spirits world. The drumstick, or orba is covered with the skin of a reindeer’s leg and often has metal rattles that add cadence to the use of the drum (Christina 2007, 641). Orba is made from juniper roots or a piece of lightening struck larch and the beater is made from a bear or goat skin (Badamkhatan 1962, 42). Orba is considered as the interpreter while he is in a trance. Orba is considered as interpreter with their Spirits and as whip for their mounts, as tool for divination and for purification in Tuvan shamanism. The number of metal rings attached to the back of the drumstick is nine, because it means that shaman would be enough strong to foresee and avoid harm.

One of the shaman’s basic tools is a mirror (kuzungu). A mirror Figure 2 is a round and can be made of bronze, brass or copper and in different sizes. A shaman’s mirror is used for foretelling, curing, divination and protection. Most of Tuvan shamans have a single mirror used for fortune telling and divination. According to the Tuvan shamanism, the shaman’s mirror has a power to take away bad spirits and cure disease and suffering. During the field work, in Khovd province, I noticed that the Tuvan shaman B. Dorj used his mirrors to call his Spirits for protection. Walter Heissig states on the book ‘The Religions of Mongolia “Even in cases where the rest of the ceremonial dress has already been forgotten, the ceremonial apron and mirror-hanging still play a prominent role” (Walter 1980, 35). It means the shaman’s mirror is the most important tool for Tuvan shamans’ rituals.

Figure 2:

Tuvan shaman’s mirror.

The mirror Figure 2 is the important tool for a tuvan shaman to acquire and learn to use. The mirror (kuzungu) is a tool or power object that can be used in healing as well as diagnosis. Smaller mirrors are attached to the shaman’s costume. Tuvan shaman wears a feather headdress and a veil that covers his eyes while he is in a trance. The shaman’s costume is covered with small objects of metal, wood, bone and leather that it functions as a protector. It is very clear from these observations that a female shaman functions as do a male shaman, participating in rituals and playing a drum and a mouth organ (khomus) and wearing a costume.

A mouth organ (khomus) Figure 3 is considered that it is a part of spiritual ritual and has enormous spiritual power. A new shaman performs his service using only the khomus, the ritual is called “a walking performance” (jadak khamnaar). It means the khomus can play a role as the drum does. The metal mouth organ (temir khomus) is used by a shaman when he performs, different melodies and rhythms produced with this instrument are used to call spirits, to heal parts of the body and to communicate ideas. A shaman plays a mouth organ or the khomus between the teeth and tapping its metal tongue with the index finger. According to Vyacheslov Shurov, ‘in shamanistic practice the onomatopoeia of the instrument [khomus] was especially significant, as it drew the shaman closer to the powers of the other world’ (Hai 1999, 4).

Figure 3:

Tuvan shaman’s khomus.

These are the important tools for shamans believed to help spiritually.

Instead of using a drum, shamans can do a shamanic performance with means of a mirror, a tongue organ, a drum and staff as their mount. For tuvan shamans, they can practice in five different ways. An ethnologist Kenin-Lobsan categorized the main modes of a shaman activity as follows:

1. shamanizing with a mirror (a kűzűngű),

2. shamanizing with a tongue organ (a khomus)

3. shamanizing with a drum (a dűngűr)

4. shamanizing with a shaman drum and dayak (staff) (Kenin-Lopsan 2010, 14)

In tuvan shamanism, it has been observed that the shamans are from different origins. According to Kenin-Lopsan’s categorizing, Tuvan shamans are divided into five groups, according to the origins of their powers:

1. Shamans who directly descend from their shaman ancestors call upon the ancestors in their invocation before their rituals. They are called in Tuvan Deer uktuk khamnar.

2. Shamans who originate from earth and water spirits get their shamanic powers from the spirits of water and earth. They are called in Tuvan Jer sug eezinden khamnar).

3. Shamans who trace their descent from the heavens. They are called in Tuvan Deer uktuk khamnar.

4. Shamans originating from the evil spirit called albis. They are called albistan hamnaan hamnar. This evil spirit, which can manifest either as a man or a woman,

5. Shamans acquired abilities from evil spirits, from a devil-like spirit called aza. This kind of shaman invites his/her spirits to fight sickness (Kenin-Lopsan 1995, 1–5)

A shaman is a man or a woman who have a strong energy and ability to communicate with their ancesters’ spirits when s/he is in a trance and help the ordinary people to get rid of illness, suffering and decide the problems they face.

In Tuvan shamanism, male and female shamans are named differently.

The guardian spirits and ancestors spirits are called differently in the Tuvan language, because of their features of regions dialect and concepts.

2 Conclusion

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn:

The unique way of living of the Tsaatan community who still pursue the ancient tradition of nomadic reindeer herding and live in a teepee in the snowy wilds of Mongolia leads us to believe that the Tsaatans are one of a few left nomadic reindeer herders in the wild. Considering the amount of research in this area, the evidence which has been found is that the Tuvan shamans were inherited in either the paternal or maternal line and a shaman is recognized by typical attacks of a special ‘sickness’, a signal to be a shaman. This means that a shaman was being marked out to become a shaman when s/he was born. It is important to add that the importance of the work is to study the tuvan shamanism and its features and put it into scientific circulation.

The result of the work can be used to give a lecture, lead a seminar and organize a training, and develop a handbook and a textbook, and for comparative studies of tuvan and other ethnic groups’ shamanism as a source material. We also agree that a way of life can become extinct and a language can become endangered relatively easily because of fewer people speak and practice it. The Tuvan ethnic group has its own unique language and culture, which has been passed down through the generations.

Our own point of view is that the Tuvans and the government of Mongolia must take measures and play an important role for it. So far, there is a significant number of studies of the tuvan shamanism that has been revealed and investigated. Tuvan shamans believe that each piece of shaman paraphernalia has its own Guardian Spirit.

Tuvan shamans wear shaman’s clothes and use appurtenances during rituals as the other Mongol ethnic groups do, but the one of their features is to practice in the Tuvan language- the Ancient Turkic language. Some of the tuvan shamans, like B. Puntsag and P. Chuluun did not want to be taken their shamanic clothing, tools and idols photos, because nowadays the number of the new shamans who wear similar clothes to each other is increasing. From 2010 I have participated in the shamanic rituals, met many tuvan shamans and gained knowledge and gotten a lot of information and facts.

The shamans involved in my own research were descended from the every origin of Tuva. For example, B. Ariunaa in Ulaanbaatar is the seventh generation of her Shaman original tree and M. Dorj was the eighth generation shaman.

Finally, I thank our informants who are a shaman Jaktyva Dorj, Dongak Javzan, Jaktyva Erdenebat, Irgid Ariunaa, and Soyod Chuluun, Soyod Puntsag help our field study to collect research materials as well as to enrich research resources which can be used to develop a handbook and for comparative studies.