Altai spirits
In Altai, at the beginning of the 20th century, the ancient ideas of "host spirits" were preserved, according to which each object or phenomenon of the surrounding nature, be it a mountain or a river, a tree or a stone, a bird or an animal, thunder or rain, etc. there was a master who, in the imagination of shamanists, was an independent, but not a human being, as if merged with a given object or phenomenon.
This master not only possessed a mind, like that of a person, but also stood out for his appearance (imaginary), often anthropomorphic (near a mountain or river, lake) or zoomorphic (in birds, animals, etc.). The religious ethics of Altai shamanists demanded respectful deities and spirits, depending on which was both the fate of an individual person and the whole race as a whole.
There was a whole set of rules related to human being in nature: in mountain taiga, in valleys and in high-mountain pastures, on mountain trails and passes, on sacred mountains or not far from them. These rules and norms of human behavior in such places were reduced to a series of various prohibitions that protect the peace of the spirits from people - the masters of local nature and flora and fauna.
While hunting in the mountain taiga, it was forbidden to exterminate animals - it was considered a punishable master of the taiga if the hunter killed, for example, several marals at once, to make noise, shout and swear. Some Altai spoke about the inadmissibility of uprooting the grass, motivating the prohibition in this way: grass is the hair of the earth, and the owner of the area was angry for the pain caused to the earth, he punished the guilty in the same way as for cutting young trees without extreme necessity.
In case of violation of these rules, the Altaians performed various rituals with sacrifices and prayers to worship and propitiate deities and spirits. Any misfortune: illness, fire, drought, failure on the hunt, death was considered as a punishment of spirits and deities for violation by a person of any rule of behavior. And in order to correct the disharmony in the relationship between the spirits and man, an atoning sacrifice was required, capable of “covering up” violations and appeasing the spirits. The spirits, according to the Altaians' conviction, sending down disasters - illness, for example - expect a ransom, gifts from a person, and he willingly gives them to them.
General well-being for all: the abundance of animals, herbs and pine nuts, the offspring of livestock and the health of people were requested from the spirits at solemn prayers. Periodic rituals of this type were considered mandatory and were regularly carried out in a number of areas inhabited by the Altaians, while violation of this rule was punished by deities and spirits with all sorts of calamities and misfortunes.
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Mountain spirits
Altaians singled out mountain spirits into a completely independent category; these spirits have nothing to do with either Ulgen or Erlik. The spirits of the mountains do not live in heavenly space, not in the lower world, but in the sphere in which the person himself lives. These spirits are strictly individualized and confined to a particular mountain, therefore the geographical names of the mountains are not simple names, but the proper names of spirits. And the mountains themselves are not only living beings, but also deities to whom the Altaians prayed as beings capable of showing their anger, sending mercy and answering man's prayers.
Each mountain had its own special spirit - the owner. If a person has climbed a mountain, he should not shout loudly, swear with someone or make noise. Usually on the pass people threw a heap of stones "obo", passing through the pass a hunter or traveler left a stone or a bullet, bowing to the local spirit - the owner. Ribbons were hung on a selected tree adjacent to the "obo". Coins were thrown under such trees and on "obo", sprinkled with arak (milk vodka) or tea.
One hunter went to hunt. Having come to the taiga, he made a hut. He went and hunted, and returned to the hut to spend the night. Having spread the fire, he hung up the cauldron, made a bed for himself, lay down and fell asleep.
At night he woke up. Waking up, he sees: a red-haired girl - the mistress of the mountain with an earring in a no-su. As soon as he saw her, the hunter laughed out loud.
The mistress of the mountain, a red-haired girl, said: "What did you see that you were laughing?"
The hunter replied: "I saw an earring in your nose and laughed."
The mistress of the mountain, a red-haired girl, took possession of the hunter's mind. The red-haired girl took the hunter to her dwelling, they entered the mountain.
We spent three nights, she said: "Don't go outside."
The hunter thought, "Why shouldn't I go outside?"
The red-haired maiden of mountain animals - marals, goats, deer, brought them to the door and milked. The hunter opened the door and looked. Watching the mistress of the mountain of mountain animals milking, he stood and thought: "If I drink the milk of these marals and goats, then I will not be able to return home!" He suddenly opened the door at once and went outside. The animals scattered away.
The mistress of the mountain, a red-haired girl, said: “I wanted to live with you. If you lived with me, you would become a great rich man. Why did you open the door ?! If you want to return home, go this way. I won't give you any more beast!"
So the hunter returned home.
The hunting legend of the Kumandins
Each person was descended from the ancestral mountain, the master spirit of which was the patron and guardian of life on the territory of the clan. Altai shamanists had special norms of behavior towards the owner of the ancestral mountain. The dependence of people on the sacred (ancestral) mountain was especially strong and unconditional.
Its owner did not allow any deviations or violations associated with the stay of people here, not only in relation to himself, but also to the animals and vegetation of these places: he kept the shamans themselves in fear, for many of whom he was a patron (gave them tambourines, etc.) etc.). He observed the behavior of women who lived nearby. Women were not allowed on the sacred mountain: a married woman was alien in her husband's seok (clan), and her touch to such a clan shrine as the sacred clan mountain could not go unpunished.
The master of all mountain peaks and of the whole Altai was considered the spirit - Altai-eezi. He was revered everywhere and in each locality they indicated one or another mountain on which he lives, as a rule, the highest. They also said that he lives on glaciers, in caves. The spirit of Altai is omnipotent and merciful to people. But, like all other spirits, he can punish a person: send a storm and bad weather in winter, destroy livestock, deprive hunters of good luck in thought, if people forget about the sacrifice that they must bring to the owner of Altai every year.
For him, a white ram with a red head was slaughtered, treated with milk and chegen. Duality in relation to people is a characteristic feature of all Altai spirits, but human misfortune is not their "specialty". Evil overtakes a person only in response to his disrespect, neglect and greed …
Water spirits
Master of flowing waters!
Your army is on birch bark boats, Master of the blue sea!
Stormy blue sea
The gray horse is your sacrifice!
We treat not cooled down arak!
Don't put us in the water
Don't throw us into the sea
Like Katun, you laugh!
The Biya River - your breasts!..
The spirit of water was considered the creator and master of all water areas of Altai. Like other powerful spirits, the water spirit was not considered unambiguously good or evil. Everything depended on the person …
Along with the spirit of all Altai waters, the owners of each reservoir were also revered. It was forbidden to pollute "flowing water", i.e. rivers, streams, springs with all sorts of sewage, household garbage, since the "owner of water" does not tolerate this and sooner or later punishes violators with various troubles and diseases.
The springs flowing from the earth - arzhan suu, which were considered medicinal, enjoyed special reverence. Ribbons were tied on the bushes or branches of trees growing nearby, coins were thrown into the arzhan. Staying on the arzhan demanded observance of prohibitions: it was forbidden to dig earth around it, break bushes, tree branches, cut trees, shout and swear: The owner of the water was described as a huge beast that breaks ice on rivers with his horns and teeth in spring and cries like a bull, how a young girl …
Later, when he heard what the mistress of the water said, that young man was very frightened … After a while, that young man forgot the anger of the mistress of the water, he crossed the river on a horse and the mistress of the water pulled him in:
In addition to the owners, all kinds of spirits and creatures could dwell in the water. Altai shamans called for the fight against evil spirits of water monsters - Abra and Yutpu, living somewhere in the rivers of Altai and resembling in their appearance snakes with four legs.
According to the Altaians, evil spirits could not move along the river against the current. They had only one way: down to where the river flows into the mythical ocean, hidden somewhere deep underground or at its edge …
Cult of fire
One of the oldest cults is the cult of fire. Fire was revered as the deity Ot-Ene (mother-fire), personifying the fire of the hearth. For a good owner of the village, the mother-fire appeared in the guise of a plump and kind old woman, for a bad one - thin and evil. In addition, her appearance changed in accordance with the time of day and even month.
During the new moon, she was a beautiful virgin, with a flawed month, she turned into a deep old woman. In the evening she is a red maiden wearing silk robes, in the early morning she is an aged woman wearing rough clothes. If women at home sewed a dress, then scraps of cloth were certainly thrown into the burning hearth for the clothes of the goddess of fire. If you happened to see an old woman in a red dress in a dream, this meant that the mistress of the fire herself had appeared, who must be fed during the day.
Mother-fire gave warmth and light, constantly guarded the home and family from evil forces, brought good luck and wealth to the owner, lived with cares at home.
It was considered completely unacceptable to desecrate fire, i.e. throw some kind of garbage or sewage into it, step over the hearth.
Newlyweds on their wedding day poured fat into the fire of their future ail. The first pinch of new brick tea was thrown into the fire. The first drops of araka smoked were dedicated to the fire. When pets were slaughtered, pieces of blood sausage or meat were thrown into the fire before eating. At dusk, at night, at the birth of a child after forty days, it was not allowed to take out the fire from the village.
In case of illness, a person would smoke himself with a lit juniper, running a steaming twig around his face. Fire also served as a mediator between man and deities, transferred sacrifices to various spirits.
Altai shamans
It is difficult to say when shamanism appeared in Altai, many centuries ago.: But already in the 20s of the twentieth century, after the revolution and the separation of the Orthodox Church from the state, which led to a crisis in the Altai spiritual mission, many baptized Altaians returned to shamanism, rituals took place everywhere. animal sacrifices. The slaughter of cattle as a sacrifice to spirits took on such proportions that the local authorities of the Oirot Autonomous Region became concerned about it. The unfolding collectivization put an end to the cult practice of shamans. For some time, shamanic rituals were still carried out in places in a narrow circle of believers without a tambourine or sacrifice. Can we say that there is no shamanism in Altai now? No, most likely, shamanism just changed the form of life:
Scientific ethnographic research of shamanism was carried out in tsarist Russia, then in the USSR, starting from the 30s. And now in modern Russia from time to time there are new studies of this regional religion - Altai shamanism. To illustrate the rituals of Altai shamans, compilations from contemporary works are meaningless, the words of an eyewitness of the rituals, that is what is needed.
For the performance of sacrifices among the Altai, as well as among other Siberian foreigners, there is a special class of shamans, whom they call kams. Kamami are not only men, but also women; according to the Altaians' belief, kams are born with an irresistible desire to kamlats, i.e. to play magic. This title is not hereditary, and the son of a kama is not always a kama, and also not every kam has a kama as a father, but nevertheless, the disposition of kama activities is to a certain extent innate, and if not in the son, then it will be reflected in the grandson or nephew.
The urge to ritual in a person is revealed by the fact that he cannot calmly endure the spectacle of ritual, and even with the distant sounds of a tambourine, convulsions begin with him. These convulsions intensify over time and become so intolerable that admission to kama for the unfortunate martyr becomes inevitable. Then he becomes a disciple to one of the old kams, studies tunes and hymns, acquires a tambourine and is consecrated to the Kama rank.
If this call for rituals manifests itself in a member of a family in which there are no kams at all, the Altai think, probably, there was some kam among their ancestors. All Kams consider themselves the descendants of one Kama, who was the first on earth to start kamlata. He was much more skillful and powerful than the current ones. His name was, according to one legend, Kadylbash, according to another - Tostogosh; there are also legends that give him the name Kairakan, Khan-Khurmos.
This is the oldest kam, the ancestor of today's kams and the founder of shamanism, the first person on earth who jumped to the beat of a tambourine, was far more skillful than the present. They do not possess even a hundredth part of the strength and knowledge of their ancestor, who was able to fly over large rivers with a tambourine in his hands, bring down lightning from the sky, etc. Needless to say, how he ruled over death itself: there was not a single dying person whom he would not return to life.
There are numerous legends about him. One of them says that the khan, bored with the deceptions of ordinary shamans, ordered them all to be burned. “If, he said, they all burn up, there is nothing to regret: then they were all deceivers; if there are true shamans between them, they will not burn. They gathered all the shamans into one yurt, covered it with dry grass and brushwood, and lit it; but the fire went out, and wet mud appeared on the site of the fire; piled twigs and herbs twice as much, lit again and again the same result.
Finally, for the third time, more firewood was piled up, this time the fire burned out with the yurt and with all the shamans who were in it, except for one, who flew out of the fire unharmed with a tambourine in his hands. Altai shamans kamla with a tambourine in their hands. The tambourine consists of a rim with leather stretched on one side. Kamlanie is mostly performed after sunset, in front of the fire: first, the tambourine is heated over the fire so that the skin tightens, and the drone of the tambourine comes out louder. Then they throw juniper berries into the fire and spray milk into the air.
Meanwhile, the shaman puts on a special cloak and a special hat. This cloak, called by the Altaians a maniac, is all hung, both in front and in the back, with cords of various thicknesses and bundles of belts. The plaits are sewn from multi-colored fabrics, they are from a finger to the thickness of a hand above the hand, and represent a snake, some of them with eyes and gaping mouths. In addition, many small iron rattles are sewn on the back and sides of the shaman. The shaman's hat is trimmed with cowrie shells and the so-called snake heads and owl feathers.
When the tambourine is ready, the shaman dressed in his cloak takes it in his hands, sits down by the fire and begins to beat it with a small handle, accompanying the blows with the singing of invocations and hymns. These blows are now rare, now more frequent, reminiscent of the stamping of horse legs. The shaman jumps up from his seat and begins to beat the tambourine, standing and dancing, or, more correctly, wiggle his body and shake his head, because he dances without moving his legs.
In addition, he then bends, then straightens the body, then strongly twitches his head, then tilts it, then hides it in a tambourine, then throws it aside, as if exposing his face to the lateral current of air. With these movements of the head, the owl plume adorning the shaman's hat flies wildly in the air; at the same time, snakes or bundles hanging from the cloak, then scatter in a fan-like manner around the shaman's body, then gather again, forming serpentine movements in the air. The shaman's assistant, whom a man usually has his wife, and a shaman woman her husband, diligently continues to pour juniper berries into the fire so that the smoke intensifies the stupefaction of the dancer.
Sometimes the shaman becomes quiet, he sits down, the blows become rare, the hymn is again heard. The tambourine quietly sways in the shaman's hand. If a shaman or shaman has a strong voice, a song is heard far away in the stillness of the night, similar to the prayer of an oppressed soul, or suppressed by its own impotence. This artistic part of the shamanic action is sometimes suddenly interrupted by cuckoo shouts, bear growls, snake hiss, or speaking in an unnatural voice and in an incomprehensible language.
This means that the shaman found himself in the company of spirits. Then suddenly an explosion of frenzied rituals follows again - blows continuously pour into the tambourine, the shaman shakes his body, his head is spinning in the air. Finally, he quickly, like a top, spins on one leg, and the bundles stretch in the air almost horizontally. If the yurt in which this performance takes place is small, then from the movement of air produced by the shaman's clothes and serpentine ropes hung on it, the fire of the fire goes out, coals and sparks scatter in different corners.
Sometimes the shaman, at the end of such a fit of fury, rushes at people, twisting his fingers in the form of a paw of a predatory beast, showing his teeth and emitting a muffled grunt, or falls to the ground and begins to gnaw at the heated stones lying by the fire. Tired, he stops; he is served a pipe, having smoked and calmed down, he becomes available and begins to tell what he saw and what he foresees in the future for everyone.
G. N. Potanin