SHAMANISM IN THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF THE TUNGUS OF YAKUTIA (historical and ethnographic aspect)

• Main Author: Alekseeva, S.
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: Norwegian Journal of Development of the International Science 2021
• Subjects: ethnography; North; Tungus; traditional worldview; religious and mythological picture of the world; shamanism.; Tunguska; Evenks; Yakutia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.24412/3453-9875-2021-75-2-14-16; https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/shamanism-in-the-religious-beliefs-of-the-tungus-of-yakutia-historical-and-ethnographic-aspect

The work is devoted to the study of shamanism in the light of the system of religious representations of the Tungus. Shamanic cosmology is highlighted, shamanic and pre-Shamanic elements, archaic ideas and beliefs about the world formed by shamanism are analyzed. The ideas about the shamanic World Tree and at the same time about the ancestral river flowing through all three worlds of the conscious Universe deserve special attention in the article. It is noted that the fate of the shaman was associated with a certain tree, and not only his fate, but also the fate of his kind. The image of the shaman, who is drawn in mythology as the central figure of the Middle World, who had access to all three worlds of the Universe, is considered in detail. It is determined that the sacred space of the Universe was actualized in the shamanic ritual to implement the connection between the worlds. For this purpose, the Tunguska shamans built special shamanic structures – the shamanic plague, which modeled the Universe in its spatial, temporal and social aspects and structurally consisted of three parts. In general, the shamanic plague of the Evenks symbolized the vertical and horizontal structure of the worlds of the Universe, which was associated with shamanic cosmogony. The appeal to shamanic themes is extremely relevant today from the point of view of the active functioning of traditional symbols in society.