About shamans of real and fake

A few days ago, opening Facebook in the morning, I almost choked on a sip of coffee. They burned five camels: in Buryatia they were shocked by the ritual of the "Baikal shamans", and the title of one of the Buryat web resources read. Opening the article, I, still not believing my eyes, read: “For the first time in modern history, the Baikal shamans held the mass rite of“ Jen Tangeri Yaba ”to strengthen Russia and its peoples. Only a very strong shaman will take responsibility to equip the“ Heavenly Caravan ”for the benefit of the state and peoples.” Then there was a terrible video with alarming music, in which people dressed in stylized Buryat Daegeals dragged the rested camels to the sacrifice.

The frontman of this action, a certain Arthur Tsybikov, who was no less than the “deputy of the Supreme Shaman of Russia”, said that the camel is the highest animal in the offering of the Buryats. The figure is five in the fortune -telling of these "Baikal shamans" is considered an excellent result, "like at school." Apparently, if a ten -point scope of assessments was adopted in our school system, the number of killed camels would have to be multiplied by half. It is almost impossible to guess about the purpose of the sacrifice from Mr. Tsybikov’s speech, because it is almost impossible to understand this incoherent stream of consciousness: “Therefore, when setting a pace, the possibility of a breakthrough, what we want to achieve, without spiritual energy, without the support of clergy, the state will not be able to move it.”

When looking at the amount of earnings of the current neoshamans, even a person’s unreasonable diploma, a person becomes clear where the crazy money is now found. I think that if Ostap Bender lived in our time, he would go to psychics, and not to managers

Residents of Buryatia and immigrants from it are really shocked and frustrated by what happened. My Facebook tape is filled with reposts of articles from the Russian press and excited discussions of the “ritual”: “There are simply no words! Well, why are such news from Buryatia?”, “Fake shamans in the Irkutsk region (Angarsk) conducted a ritual that was not subsidious in the genuine shamanic tradition. The ritual was perfect to strengthen the relics of Russia (hello to witches),“ Incredible PR of the Irkutsk region with a ricochet who has affected Buryatia. etc. “Both news agencies and users of social networks are already reproached and write about camels both in Russia and abroad, unpleasant responses, bewilderment and shock. Dikars are not the worst review. A huge reputation and image damage to the Buryats and Buryatia,” the Bato Bulkhan blogger sums up.

"Who is this Arthur Pirozhkov, Sorry, Tsybikov?" - one of the commentators asks a question. I admit, I also thought. In the video from Angarsk, we see people in the shamanic masks of the eastern Buryats, dressed in Daegel (outerwear) also of the eastern, rather than Western Buryats, who silently, without any calls, beat in tambourines. It is impossible not to note the Caucasoid appearance of many (if not most) “Baikal shamans”, which is explained, first of all, by the location of the Shaman Center of Arthur Tsybikov. Angarsk, a young industrial city in the south of the Irkutsk region, was founded in 1945, hence its epithet "City born of a victory". Another unofficial name of Angarsk is the "City of Neftekhimikov". What wind brought here the organizer of the scandalous ritual?

Judging by the colorful biography of Arthur Tsybikov-he is clearly from the "those who survived in the 90s." Born in Buryatia and, before becoming a shaman, tried a lot of where he had been and where he had visited. He built roads in Ukraine, served in a special forces, worked as a bodyguard, was engaged in a restaurant business, and was an assistant to the State Duma deputy of Kobzon in Moscow. I bought a tea plant and a tea plantation in Georgia, was engaged in gasification of Adjara. Managed to get two higher educations: teachers of physical education and economist. And then there was a "shamanic disease", he explains a sharp change in activity. However, when looking at the amount of earnings of the current neoshamanans, even an unreleased diploma of an economist, it becomes clear to a person where crazy money is now being found. I think that if Ostap Bender lived in our time, he would go to psychics, and not to managers.

In 2010, the newly made Shaman moves from Moscow to Angarsk and founded the local religious organization of shamans (Mrosh) in the city of Neftekhimikov "Eternally Blue Sky". At the moment, the organization is seeking from the authorities the transfer of land, on which the main building in the form of a yurt and several houses of students has already been built, for free use. In June 2018, the International Shaman Congress was held in the Republic of Tyu, during which the Supreme Shaman of Russia was first elected-it became Kara-ool Dopchun-ool, the head of the Kyzyl Mrosh Adyg-Eeren (“The Spirit of the Bear”). The hero of our narrative became the deputy of this supreme shaman. Not all shamans recognize the legitimacy of the elections. Most of them, living in their uluses and villages, most likely did not hear about some supreme shaman. Shamanism today is recognized as one of the traditional religions in Tyu, Buryatia and Yakutia. For the goal proclaimed at the congress, the exorbitant ambitions of its organizers peek out by state religion in Russia. Poprazing Chernomyrdin, they wanted to build neohamanism as a world religion, but it still turned out to be the CPSU. What was the political games on the Chaanism field, we saw in Angarsk.

The shamanistic initiation procedure is put in the "eternally blue sky" on the stream. Tsybikov does not hide what devotes to the shamans of everyone, despite the absence of the so -called “shamanic root” of the Upha : “It used to be that the shamans were inherited. <...> I also thought so before, but now people have already come off by nature, many do not understand how to live and what to do. Therefore, I propose to restore shamanistic practices, communication with ancestors, nature. The stage, if a person has a desire and talent, he can try to become a shaman. "

About a hundred students constantly live in the center. For 9 years, Tsybikov prepared more than two thousand generic shamans - those who, according to him, perform rituals only for their relatives and friends. Those who are going to become the so -called "Public shamans" who can take and treat people, about 500 people. Here we must make a reservation that dedication into shamans is far from a cheap enterprise. The costs of preparing the rite, shamanic vestments, attributes, treats and remuneration of teachers and students can be about 100 thousand rubles. In addition, studying in shamanic centers, as a rule, is not limited to one dedication. The first dedication follows the second, then after some time the third and so on, until the wallet is impoverished or the ambitions of such "conveyor" shamans will calm down. Tsybikov is a rather ambitious person, so he appropriated the highest ninth degree of initiation to shamans Zaarin Boo . In addition, in the center they accept customers, guess, rituals, treated. And still, it does not fit in my head, as you can easily burn half a million rubles for just like that.

The cost of one live camel is about 100 thousand rubles. The explanations of Tsybikov himself were that supposedly with the approach of spring, the owner of the farm somewhere in Buryatia decided to get rid of the most aggressive males and invited the shaman to redeem them for the rite, they sound somewhat stretched. If all the cattle breeders in the spring instead of castration were cutting the striped males, they would have risked soon to be left without cattle at all. Camel production was revived in Buryatia and in the Trans -Baikal Territory recently, after more than half a century of oblivion. The last camels were launched under a knife under Khrushchev, during the next voluntarist agricultural campaign of the leader to destroy individual subsidiary farms. Then the Buryat breeds of cows and sheep were destroyed. Now camels can be found in Kurumkan, erase and border with the Irkutsk region of the Tunkinsky district of Buryatia. Most likely, the camels were bought there. Tsybikov calls his rite "uus", this word Buryats call the meat blank for the winter. But a uuse is carried out in late autumn, and not at the beginning of spring.

Let's move on to the rite itself, called in the video "Jen Tangeri Yaba." This name is a meaningless set of words, literally meaning: "Caravan the sky leave." This phrase is built grammatically incorrectly and stands in a row with "the snow will fall" or "do not understand mine." Nowhere, except in the video of the "Baikal shamans", such a ceremony is not recorded, and Buryat shamanism has been studied quite well, from the 18th century to the present day. The adhering traditions of shamans of the Irkutsk region and Buryatia have already condemned this action as violating all conceivable and inconceivable taboos. “Not a single animal can be killed in the rituals. The soul of the above animals, which has been brought by the deities from time immemorial, is the basis for establishing a connection in time and space, land with heaven, people with the gods,” the Tangari Mrosh from Ulan-Ude, is strictly put on the official statement of any other animals, is strictly taboo, since it presents a violation of the harmony between the harmony between the harmony between the harmony. With deities and people, it will inevitably lead to troubles and hardships, not so much the current generation, but [generation] of our descendants.

In addition, in the description of the video it is stated that on the Buryat family taigans along with livestock (ram, less often a horse), the Buryats donated a bird. Apparently, Angarsk innovators have more in common with Voodoo priests or Santeria than with Buryat shamans. To begin with, the poultry and nomadic life are incompatible. As for wild birds, strict taboos acted in relation to them. So, for example, the Buryats especially revered a swan, eagle, a kite, it was also forbidden to kill geese, forty, ravens, owls. The Tyglangians mentioned in the description - tribal rites, have been carried out and carried out from late spring to autumn. Moreover, in the past, shamans on these rites could only be present as ordinary participants. The main manager in Tyglang was the priest of the tribal cult - Sagaani Boo (White Shaman) or just the elder of the family. And of course, the Black Kuznets-Darhan could not conduct such rites, which Arthur Tsybikov calls himself, demonstrating his shamanistic armor in one of the videos on the organization’s website to go to the lower world.

White (or "heavenly") shamans ( Tangerri Boo ) were actually not the shamans themselves. Unlike black shamans, they did not have a tambourine and used during rituals only with short ritual canes with bronze bells tied to them, other trinkets, pieces of cotton and silk tissues and ribbons. They did not have special shamanic costumes with many different pendants, which wore black shamans. In the best case, during the ceremonies, they wore white suede (later cotton) robes, white hats from Merlushki and white shoes Gutal . Participants in Tyglang turned to the deities of the sky and land, the spirit of the hosts of the local sacred mountains, rivers and lakes. Credular rites and games could also conduct some particularly respected ulus old people. The program of the Tyglangans of the Western Buryats or the Tahilga of the Eastern Buryats consists of three parts: offering to spirits and prayer, feast and amusement. I’m not sure how the meat of five camels ordered the meat of five camels in Angarsk, but I won’t be surprised if I find out that all it was burned at the sacrificial stake. Well, such blasphemy in the name of "strengthening Russia and its peoples" fits into the practices of sanctions cheeses and apples that have been widespread for some time for some time.

Shamanism today, of course, differs from the beliefs of our ancestors. He did not freeze in time and develops along with the society that generated him. When comparing ethnographic materials on Buryat shamanism related to the XIX-beginning of the 20th centuries, with relevant beliefs and practices of the Boo Murgal (Shaman religion) revived after a 70-year break , the first thing that catches the eye is a lot of inconsistencies. So, M.N. Khangalov wrote that women were forbidden to attend the Tyglangans (married women belonged to another family and during the main taigan they conducted a separate "female" Tyghan - Tuhaereon). And today women often make up almost most believers in the Tyglangans. Yes, and the Tyglangans themselves, from the presentations in the clan places, are reborn into joint prayers of shamans of various genera, acquiring the status of all -Buryat religious holidays. More than half of the Buryat lives in cities, so the so -called city shamanism arose. In Soviet times, the shamans were forced to go underground, as a result of the policy of “ramping”, the tradition of transferring the shamanistic gift was interrupted, a ban on holding mass religious holidays was imposed, and old customs were forgotten. The fate of the aunt of my mother’s grandfather is typical for many failed shamans, who were forced to reject their shamanic root in the years of the Stalin regime. She was supposed to accept the initiation in the late 1920s and even prepared attributes and costume, but she abandoned the shamanistic gift under the pressure of her husband-the foreman of the collective farm. Relatives always believed that her family suffered the punishment of spirits: most children died at an early age, her son died at the front near Moscow, only one daughter survived to old age, the son and grandson of which tragically died in his youth.

The revival of shamanism, which began in the late 1980s, showed that despite repressions and oblivion, this faith is alive and its ancient practices again open to people who have accepted the Shamanic gift. What distinguishes a real shaman, albeit neo-, from the adventurer and pseudoshaman? I think that this is an understanding of good and evil, the concepts of SEER - "sin", "sinfulness" in the shamanistic sense of the word as a violation of harmony, the existing world order. The shamans of the past always knew what could be done and what it is impossible, what is Sertei - sinful. They knew, among other things, when they violated ethical prohibitions. Shamans adhering to traditions know this today. As a child, my mother told us stories about shamans. One of them said about how an GPU officer was punished, who made one shaman camp on water instead of vodka. The shaman initially refused, but under the gunpoint was forced to start a blasphemous ceremony, having previously warned the officer that sin would switch to him. Needless to say, this officer finished badly? Arthur Tsybikov, from whom not only other Buryat shamans, but also the direct boss, Kara-ool Dopchun-ool, in pursuit of ghostly dividends in the form of official recognition of the authorities (and why else could this patriotic rite, completely forgot about this principle.

This situation is best characterized by another immortal aphorism of Chernomyrdin: "They wanted the best, but it turned out as always." Where worse? Buryatia and the Buryats again “became famous for the whole world, shamanism and its practices received a huge dose of black PR, and many commentators seriously thought about who was beneficial for the next discredit of the Buryat people. Instead of the expected strengthening of Russia and its peoples - a split and conspiracy theory against the backdrop of national humiliation.

And yet I do not want to end on this sad note. My mother at ten years old became seriously ill. Doctors could not understand the causes of the disease from which she was dying. In the summer heat, she walked in a fur coat, and she was pounding from the cold. In the end, when there was almost no hopes for recovery, a strong shaman was brought from a distant ulus on a cart. During Camlavia, he saw that the girl’s soul left her body, frightened by an evil spirit, and described in detail the circumstances of the meeting. Mom, herself, by that time, who forgot about that case, remembered everything and sobbed. The shaman held a difficult rite of returning the soul, after which the disease left. This story became one of the strongest shocks of my childhood, it was then that I realized that I could no longer call myself an atheist. Now, remembering her, for the first time in my life I realized that then the shaman saved not only my mother. There would be no me without him. He saved me and my sisters, as well as their children and children of their children ... Therefore, I am in an unpaid duty to our BOO Murgel. And therefore, I can’t be silent now, when a wave of rejection rises against all shamans, when all of them are cursed and called savages and flayers. This is first of all to me. And shamanism, of course, will survive this scandal, too small and insignificant compared to the terror of picking up. And real shamans will continue to be born and pass their gift from generation to generation. Like thousands of years ago.

Rajana Dugarova - candidate of historical sciences

The "Opinion" expressed in the heading of the point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial office