Never disturb the peace of the dead. Especially if it's a shaman.
Arangas
There were no cemeteries in Yakutia. Winters here last from 6.5 to 9 months, the temperature drops to -50 degrees. Even in summer, the ground here thaws to a depth of no more than 1.5 m; it is a difficult task to carve a hole in it to bury the deceased. Therefore, the dead were often burnt here, and the shamans were buried in the air in the so-called. arangasah: a deck was installed on the poles, into which the corpse of the shaman and the attributes of his craft were placed.
The burial place was considered sacred, they tried to bypass it, and if it happened to get into these places, then the Yakuts always left some gift at the grave so as not to incur the wrath of the deceased shaman.
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But with the onset of the 20th century, many immigrants from other parts of Russia appeared in Yakutia. Raised in the spirit of atheism, they did not feel awe and reverence for ancient tombs, considering it a relic. And they paid the price for their arrogance. Read also - the predictions of shamans about Russia.
Don't wake up a dead shaman
In the late 50s, in the Evenk village of Kuberganya, Abyisky ulus, they decided to build an airstrip in order to connect the godforsaken village with civilization. However, the old people, having learned about the place chosen for the construction, were not only not happy, but categorically opposed: “It is impossible. There is a shaman's grave nearby. But the strip was still built.
At the grand opening, they decided to take the kids on a plane. The children were put into the car, the plane accelerated, but did not take off - the engine broke. The old men said that the shaman simply felt sorry for the children. The second plane also failed to take off. In the evening, the foreman of the builders drowned in the river, which even a chicken would wade. Soon, another builder went to the hospital with appendicitis and died.
The authorities made the right decision: they turned to the old people with a request to appease the spirit of the dead. The old men performed a ceremony and sacrificed a bull specially allocated by the administration for this purpose. And only after that the shaman calmed down and stopped taking revenge on the people who had awakened him.
A picnic with a tragic ending
In the late 60s, a group of students-archeologists from the Yakutsk University who came to practice, decided to go to relax on the lake. Locals strongly advised not to go, because there is a shaman arangas on the shore. But what are the tales of old people to young Komsomol members? Eight people went for a picnic.
We got to the lake. Noise, din, fun. We drank and, heated with alcohol, went to look at the grave. Arangas was found quickly. Hotheads offered to look inside: "In the end, are we archaeologists or not ?!" They did not dare, but otherwise they did not deny themselves, two even coped there a small need. We returned to the tent and went to bed.
At night they were all awakened by a terrible storm. The wind tore the tarp. Outside, someone's footsteps were heard and a deep, uterine voice demanded to leave the tent. Two daredevils made up their mind, walked around the camp several times, found no one and returned to the tent. Then a real nightmare awaited them: all their comrades were dead, their faces frozen in horror. The guys ran and reached the nearest village in the morning.
The guys were dragged for a long time for interrogations, but they passed the prison: according to the doctors' conclusion, their comrades died of a heart attack. Local residents were not at all surprised by the incident: "It was the shaman's revenge."
Flying over Arangas is prohibited
Anna Ivanovna Pavlova (don't be confused by her Russian name) was a famous shamaness. The greatest shamaness of Yakutia. Until now, legends are told about her. And now someone thought of laying an air route directly over her arangas. The pilot of the helicopter on this route, after the third flight, flatly refused to fly this route: I won't, that's all.
After talking with passion, he admitted that every time he flies over the grave of a shaman, he sees her ghost in the sky. One of his colleagues made fun of him and volunteered to replace his comrade: "Yes, I did not care about this old woman!" In the first flight, his car crashed. The pilot survived, but the leadership, not wanting to further tempt fate, changed the route, bypassing the "enchanted place".
Don't make shamans angry, even the dead
There are hundreds of similar stories in Yakutia. Sakha, Yukaghirs, Evenki believe that with the death of a shaman, only his physical body dies, and the spirit remains on the ground, protects its arangas and the blasphemous attitude towards the graves of shamans is not for nothing and is always severely punished.
And let the scientists say what they want, but local residents, even from newcomers, near the arangas behave quietly and always leave small coins, sweets, cigarettes - it is better not to quarrel with shamans, even with the dead.
Klim Podkova