Recording Shamanism in Old Russia

Abstract

This was one of the first comprehensive works on Buryat shamanism. The summarized German translation of this paper introduced it to the Western scholarly audience (Stieda, L. “Das Schamanenthum unter den Burjiaten,” Globus 52, no. 16 (1887): 250–253). Agapitov, a native Buryat, was one of the heads of the Eastern Siberian branch of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society. In 1880, his fellow tribesman named Khangalov, who at that time worked as a teacher, sent to Agapitov a “thick manuscript” that described initiations and funerals of Buryat shamans. Agapitov became interested in this work and joined Khangalov in a special field study of Buryat shamanism in 1881. The paper deals with various aspects of the Buryat religion: a hierarchy of their deities, rites and sacrifices, sacred images and concepts of the soul and the afterlife. A special section deals with shamanic paraphernalia, initiations, and the funerals of shamans.

Agapitov N.N. and M.N. Khangalov. “Materially dlia izucheniia shamanstva v Sibiri: shamanstvi u Buryat Irkutskoi gubernii [Materials for the Study of Shamanism in Siberia: Buryat Shamanism in Irkustk Guberniia].” Izvestiia Vostochno-sibirkskago otdela Russkago geografischeskago obshchestva 14, no. 1–2 (1883): 1–6.