Spiritual culture

Traditional religious beliefs are part of a culture’s worldview element and comprise an elaborate complex of various beliefs in animism and magic, superstitions and taboos. Many are linked with the mountain worship that is closely intertwined to land worship.

In the sacral sense, mountains are endowed with the highest cosmos and are connected with the idea of the supreme spiritual power. In the mythic and poetic tradition of most cultures, mountains represent the center of the world. Mountains preserved the most archaic types of cultures with their special mythological mindset based on cognizing the harmony of the universe. Until now, the Sayan Mountains have preserved the Oka district from the invasion of industrial interventions and protected both nature and people by maintaining a sense of profound unity with the world around them. The mountains were seen as intermediaries between the sky and the earth. Mountains served as sites for prayers to the heavenly deities. For the Oka people, the Akhyn  Khadanuud are such sacred places.

Mount Rinchinlkhümbe is in the vicinity of Lake Khövsgöl in Mongolia. The Soyot believed it to be their patron. When they arrived in the new lands, they gave the same name to one of its majestic peaks and worshipped it the same way they did in their homeland.

Many religious beliefs of the Oka people are connected with hunting, one of their principal occupations. The many hunting rituals and customs constitute the most archaic stratum of animistic and totemic beliefs. Some animals were ascribed supernatural abilities such as understanding human speech, and hunters avoided saying out loud that they were going to hunt them; such animals are the bear and the wild boar.

Many “säär” taboos had to be observed in a hunt. They were connected with a knowledge of ecology and shamanic rituals. For instance, hunting out of season, killing off entire litters, setting iron traps and snares, and hunting unknown animals and birds were taboo. Killing birds was taboo as they flew high up in the sky and were believed to communicate with the gods. In particular, killing the following birds was taboo: the velvet scoter as it was considered “ burkhanai shubuun ,” “a sacred bird”; the swan “ khun shubuun ” because swans live in pairs and a bird that lost its mate would curse its killer; and the swallow “ kharaasgay ” because it flew up to the heavenly khan.

Thus, the traditional religious beliefs of the Oka Soyot viewed everything around them as having its master; they believed animals to have souls, and that everything is interconnected with invisible threads. The Soyot’s hunting rituals manifest influences of various peoples, but they all demonstrate deference for animals. Mountain worship is underlain by worshipping Mother Earth, while animal worship is underlain by belief in being related to them (The Soyot’s Religious beliefs 2023)

Every May, the foothills of Eastern Siberia’s tallest peak Munko-Saridak witness the ritual of worshipping the mountain’s master Buren-Khaan. The first Soyot Khambo Lama Dazan-Khaibzun Samayev revived this ritual. Buren-Khaan is a sacred place, he guards and protects the local people. Munko-Saridak, a peak of the Eastern Sayan Mountains, is home to Buren-Khaan and the principal holy shrine of the entire Sayan-Baikal area. The traditional inter-regional celebration of worshipping Buren-Khaan has been taking place since 2001. In 2008, the celebration became an international event. An elder or a shaman made offerings and called upon all 13 supreme mountains documenting their epithets.

There was a murgel at the foothills of the sacred mountain. Usually, it was a free-standing or unique tree. This worship was connected with the view of trees as vessels of a special force that affects human life. Each person passing by should leave something, and sprinkle milk or water. A person setting out on a long journey should tie a ribbon ( zurmadakhan ) to this tree; regular people tie white ribbons, and hunters tie pieces of red cloth.

Worship sites in the Oka district are intrinsically linked with nature and associated with a certain thing in nature that has magical, sacred attributes. At the same time, this natural thing carries within it the people’s historical memory as it is associated with facts, events of the past, and legends connected with historical or mythological persons, such as the legend of two sisters, the ladies of the Shumak. Many generations worship such things as their main shrines.