religions

Article
Shamanic Sports: Buryat Wrestling, Archery, and
Horse Racing
Stefan Krist
Center for Mongolian Studies, Inner Mongolia University, West Daxue Road 235, Hohhot 010021, China;
stefan.krist@imu.edu.cn




Received: 28 February 2019; Accepted: 22 April 2019; Published: 7 May 2019


Abstract: This paper presents the religious aspects of the historical and present forms of the traditional
sports competitions of the Buryats—a Mongolian ethnic group settled in Southern Siberia, Northern
Mongolia, and North-Eastern China. Both historically and in our time, their traditional sports have
been closely linked to shamanic rituals. This paper provides insights into the functions of these sports
competitions for Buryat shamanic rituals—why they have been, and still are, an inevitable part of
these rituals. They are believed to play an important role in these rituals, which aim to trick and/or
please the Buryats’ spirits and gods in order to get from them what is needed for survival. The major
historical changes in the Buryats’ constructions of their relationship to their imagined spiritual
entities and the corresponding changes in their sports competitions are described. The effects of both
economic changes—from predominantly hunting to primarily livestock breeding—and of changes in
religious beliefs and world views—from shamanism to Buddhism and from Soviet Communist ersatz
religion to the post-Soviet revival of shamanism and Buddhism—are described. Special attention is
given to the recent revival of these sports’ prominent role for Buddhist and shamanist rituals.

Keywords: Buryats; cultic sports; shamanism; Buddhism; post-Soviet revivals

1. Introduction
The Buryats are a Mongolian ethnic group mainly settled in the Russian Federation in the area to
the west, south, and east of Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia. Smaller groups of Buryats also live in
neighboring areas of Mongolia and in China’s Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia. Their total
number is estimated at about 500,000. They formerly bore the name “Buryat-Mongols” because they
belong to the family of Mongolian peoples, of which they are the northernmost members, and are
both linguistically and culturally close relatives of the Mongols in Mongolia and China. They became
a distinct ethnic group after the seventeenth century CE, when their territory was conquered and
colonized by the Russian Empire (Forsyth 1992; Humphrey 1983; Humphrey 1990; Kolarz 1954;
Krader 1954).
In addition to literature sources, this study rests upon sixteen ethnographic fieldwork trips lasting
between one and three months, which I undertook in the stated regions over the past 25 years. I owe an
immense debt of gratitude to all the Buryats and other locals there, who shared their knowledge with
me; let me watch, photograph, and film them; or helped me otherwise. Most of this fieldwork also
required administrative and logistic support from local scientific institutions, which I obtained first
and foremost from the Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist, and Tibetan Studies of the Russian Academy
of Sciences and the Buryat State University in Ulan-Ude, for which I am grateful to their respective
leaderships and colleagues.
In geographical terms, the territory of Buryat settlement is located in the transition zone between
the trans-Asian steppe belt and that of the taiga (i.e., the Siberian boreal forest). Thus, its landscape
differs considerably from most lands of the Mongols in Mongolia and China. Forests are rare in these

Religions 2019, 10, 306; doi:10.3390/rel10050306 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions

Religions 2019, 10, 306 2 of 21

regions, whereas the Buryats’ land is characterized by an alternation of steppe and forest, and is also
less arid. As a consequence, hunting has always played a more important role for their subsistence than
for the other Mongols, and they have—especially in Lake Baikal—also been involved in fishing, which
other Mongols have always despised. Additionally, the indigenous Siberian population groups which
are the Buryats’ neighbors to the north are hunting people of the taiga. The Buryats have had mutual
trade and cultural exchange with these groups throughout history. These conditions have influenced
both the Buryats’ traditional religious beliefs and their traditional sports. It is this more important role
that hunting plays in Buryat life as compared to other Mongols which exerts the shamanic influence on
their sports.
In regard to these sports and for the analysis in this paper, it is necessary to avoid employing
a narrow categorization of sports as being purely win- and record-orientated, highly formalized,
standardized, regulated, and institutionalized activities. This view derives from focusing only on
modern Western sports, which have developed under specific historical conditions of industrialization
and associated processes of labor division, alienation, class struggle, etc., and thus constitute just one
specific type of sport that is not universal. Instead of such a confining and exclusionary Eurocentric
categorization, an open and much more integrative definition of sports is needed to comprehend a
case such as traditional Buryat sports, as has long been established in social anthropology. In 1985,
American sports anthropologists Kendall Blanchard and Alyce Taylor Cheska defined sport as:

a physically exertive activity that is aggressively competitive within constraints imposed

by definitions and rules. A component of culture, it is ritually patterned, gamelike, and of
varying amounts of play, work, and leisure. (Blanchard and Cheska 1985, p. 60)

Indeed, the majority of sports practiced in this world cannot be pigeonholed as being either competitive
or gamelike, and without doubt, all of them have “ritualized features”, to use a phrase of one of the
peer reviewers of this article. The traditional Buryat sports are no exception. As I will show, they are
simultaneously sports, competitions, games, and rituals.
The Buryats’ traditional sports comprise particular styles of wrestling, archery, and horse racing.
Wrestlers fight their matches bare-chested and with a belt made of cloth bound in a specific way around
their waist and hip. They have to grab each other on these belts after five minutes, if the match is
not decided before this time (Figure 1). It is a standing-up wrestling style (i.e., there is no wrestling
on the ground). One loses when one falls to the ground or touches it with three parts of one’s body;
this is the only way a match is decided, as there is neither a time-limit nor any point system. Archers
typically use traditional composite reflex bows made of wood, horn, and animal sinew. They shoot
with wooden arrows with thickened wooden blunt heads (Figure 2) at sury, soft targets of a cylindrical
shape made of cloth or leather which are about six to eight centimeters in diameter and about ten to
twelve centimeters long (Figure 3). A certain number of them are laid on the ground in a distance
varying between 30 and 60 m from the archers, who have to hit them with their arrows and push them
at least two meters further. In the horse races, typically horses of the Buryat breed are ridden by boy
or girl jockeys at full gallop straight across the steppe over long distances, from 6 to 28 km. For this,
the horses are specially trained for several weeks or months, mainly by managing their feed intake
and accustoming them to racing. Certain methods that have been passed down from generation to
generation are applied, but the breeders often keep these as closely guarded secrets.
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Figure
Figure
Figure 1.
1. Buryat
Buryat
1. Buryat wrestlers
wrestlers in in
wrestlers in aa match overseen
matchoverseen
a match by aaa referee
overseen by refereeduring
referee during
duringaa tournament
tournament
a tournament organized
organized as
as part
organized as of
part of
part of
the
the Maidar
Maidar Khural
Khural celebrations
celebrations at
at the
the Ivolginsk
Ivolginsk Buddhist
Buddhist monastery
monastery in
in 2010.
2010. Photo:
Photo: Stefan
Stefan Krist.
Krist.
the Maidar Khural celebrations at the Ivolginsk Buddhist monastery in 2010. Photo: Stefan Krist.

Figure 2. Buryat archer at the Republic Surkharban Festival in the central stadium of Ulan-Ude, the
Figure 2. Buryat archer at the RepublicSurkharban
Surkharban Festival
Figure 2. Buryat archer at the Republic Festivalininthe
thecentral stadium
central of Ulan-Ude,
stadium the the
of Ulan-Ude,
capital
capital of
of the
the Republic
Republic of
of Buryatia
Buryatia of
of the
the Russian
Russian Federation
Federation in
in summer
summer 2015.
2015. Photo:
Photo: Stefan
Stefan Krist.
Krist.
capital of the Republic of Buryatia of the Russian Federation in summer 2015. Photo: Stefan Krist.

The Buryats, and all other Mongols, have always favored these particular three sports, or similar
forms of these. Undoubtedly, this is due to their traditional way of life: nomadic animal husbandry
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The Buryats, and all other Mongols, have always favored these particular three sports, or
similar forms
with hunting of these. Undoubtedly,
as a subsidiary this is and
economic activity due frequent
to their traditional
engagement wayinofwars
life: and
nomadic animal
feuds. However,
husbandryinwith
competitions hunting
all three of as a subsidiary
these economic
sports were and activity and frequent
are usually engagement
held together in warsoccasions
at various and
feuds. However, competitions in all three of these sports were and are usually
associated with solemn rituals, today also profane ones, but traditionally these occasions were held together at of a
various occasions associated with solemn rituals, today also profane ones, but traditionally these
mostly religious, cultic-magic nature. Thus, these sports also have a deep religious root or at least, a
occasions were of a mostly religious, cultic-magic nature. Thus, these sports also have a deep
religious function. Why this?
religious root or at least, a religious function. Why this?

Figure
Figure 3. A Buryat
3. A Buryat archerarcher
settingsetting up “sury”,
up “sury”, soft targets
soft targets symbolizing
symbolizing huntedhunted
rodents,rodents, for his
for his competitors
competitors to shoot at during a competition at the Ivolginsk Buddhist monastery in 2010. Photo:
to shoot at during a competition at the Ivolginsk Buddhist monastery in 2010. Photo: Stefan Krist.
Stefan Krist.
2. Cultic Sports
2. Cultic Sports
Researchers, and in particular anthropologists, have long realized and widely agree that games
Researchers, and in particular anthropologists, have long realized and widely agree that games
and sports have very much in common with cults and rituals, because the broadly accepted definition
and sports have very much in common with cults and rituals, because the broadly accepted
of ritual as “a category
definition of ritualofasbehavior
“a categorywhichof isbehavior
prescribed, predictable,
which stereotyped,
is prescribed, predictable,communicative,
stereotyped, and
shared” (Harris andand
communicative, Park 1983, (Harris
shared” p. 17) applies
and Parkto1983,
andp.holds true for
17) applies games
to and holdsand sports
true competitions
for games and
as well. Countless
sports historic
competitions andCountless
as well. ethnographic reports
historic about sports
and ethnographic competitions
reports about sports which were carried
competitions
out as partswere
which of magic-religious
carried out as partsrituals clearly indicate
of magic-religious thatclearly
rituals thereindicate
is a close
thatlink
therebetween
is a closethese
link two
human between these two human activities.
activities.
MostMost frequently,
frequently, sportssports competitions
competitions accompanied—or
accompanied—or were themselves
were themselves consideredconsidered to
to be—rituals
be—rituals of some sort of fertility magic, attempting to influence the weather
of some sort of fertility magic, attempting to influence the weather so that it rained enough, that so that it rained
enough, that livestock or game propagated well, or that harvests were rich (Damm 1960, pp. 3–5;
livestock or game propagated well, or that harvests were rich (Damm 1960, pp. 3–5; Jensen 1947, p. 38;
Jensen 1947, p. 38; Kamphausen 1972, p. 94; Körbs 1960, p. 14). This was, for instance, reported of
Kamphausen 1972, p. 94; Körbs 1960, p. 14). This was, for instance, reported of the Australian
the Australian Aborigines, of most North American native tribes, and of the Tikopian Islanders in
Aborigines,
the SouthofPacific,
most to North
mentionAmerican
just threenative tribes,
examples that and of the Tikopian
are prominent Islanders
in the literature in the
(Culin 1907,South
Pacific, to mention just three examples that are prominent in the literature (Culin
pp. 484–85; Firth 1930, p. 67; Sands 2010, p. 28). Many more examples from all over the world could 1907, pp. 484–85;
Firth be
1930, p. 67; Sands
listed—not only 2010, p. 28).
past, but alsoMany morepresent
numerous examples from
ones, all over
among themthetheworld
Naadam could be listed—not
games of the
only past, but also numerous present ones, among them the Naadam games of the Mongolian peoples
Religions 2019, 10, 306 5 of 21

(Kabzińska-Stawarz 1987, p. 54), including the Eryn Gurban Naadan1 (i.e., the “Three Manly Games” of
the Buryats).
Further occasions at which many people all over the world—including the Mongols and Buryats
with the same games—did (and do) frequently organize and engage in sports competitions are rituals
in connection with the cycles of life, both human and natural (Jensen 1947, p. 38; Damm 1960, p. 8;
Calhoun 1987, pp. 76–77). Regarding the former, many rites of passage are accompanied by tough
physical exercises (Körbs 1960, p. 14; Calhoun 1987, p. 64). Rites celebrating the change of
seasons—especially the end of the winter and the beginning of the spring—are often accompanied by ball
games, target shooting, boxing, wrestling, and all kinds of races (Culin 1907, p. 483; Damm 1960, p. 7;
Calhoun 1987, p. 77).
The basic reason for this ancient and widespread interconnection between magic-religious cults
and sports competitions lies in the purpose and structure of cults and rituals. Cults, as the German
physical educator and sports scientist Werner Körbs has outlined, are the language in which people
talk with “the sublime”, and this language is “the offering of oneself, in gestures and postures, in play
and competitions, that is by corporeal effort” (Körbs 1960, p. 13, translation mine). For Körbs people
employ corporeal (i.e., bodily) effort—or as one can equally call it, body language—in rituals because
this means of communication “seems to be most noticeable and impressive for both the pleading and
the bestowing” (Körbs 1960, p. 14, translation mine), that is, for the people and for their gods. The fact
that it is a bodily means of communication which people use in their primordial rituals aiming at
securing their survival is also more profanely explained by the fact that “man’s first and most natural
technical object, and at the same time his first technical means, is his body”, as French anthropologist
Marcel Mauss makes plain in his 1935 essay, “Les techniques du corps” (Mauss [1935] 1992, p. 461).
That “[p]hysical movement is integral to human ritual”, as American sports anthropologist Robert
Sands has succinctly phrased, is thus indeed beyond doubt (Sands 2010, p. 27). Hence, Sands correctly
concludes that “physical movement is integral to human spirituality and religion”, and therefore,
“spirituality and, later, sport evolved from the dynamic interaction of ritual and movement patterns”
(Sands 2010, p. 27).
In and by means of these “movement patterns”—that is, through rituals and sports—people
did, and still do, visualize imagined cosmic and divine events and make them come alive, and
by their own active and periodically repeated participation they make them more perceptible and
tangible for themselves (Mathys 1958, pp. 3, 14, and 23). Thus, as they are of a common origin, both
rituals and sports are means that humans developed at an early stage for the purpose of “remov[ing]
enough of the fear of the unknown to make the sacred work for society”, as American anthropologist
Frank Salamone (1977, p. 166) has put it.
Rituals, including sports competitions, can “make the sacred work for society” because they—as
those who participate in them believe—offer the possibility to intervene in “divine struggles”
(Calhoun 1987, p. 76) between good and evil gods or, more generally, patrons and demons, in order to
influence them for one’s own benefit. Sports seem to offer this opportunity to people, as American
sports sociologist Donald Calhoun explains by drawing on reports about Native Americans, because
[p]reliterate peoples generally believe that by imitating or participating in the struggles of
the gods they can influence the outcome and thereby themselves. So, at the festivals of
spring, while the “good” gods were struggling to maintain fertility, the people would engage
in contests—between villages, between subtribes, between women and men, between the
married and the unmarried. (Calhoun 1987, p. 77)

[ . . . ] The successful playing out of the athletic contest [is] supposed to win the favor of, or
give help to, supernatural forces or beings in these very life-important natural struggles—for

1 In Mongolian the games are called “Naadam”, i.e., with an “m” at the end of the word, while in Buryat they are called
“Naadan”, i.e., with an “n”-ending.
Religions 2019, 10, 306 6 of 21

the falling of needed rain, the fertility of crops or game, the healing of an illness, or the
freeing of a dead person’s spirit. Thus, on the principle of like begets like, the successful
playing of the game [is] believed to give a homeopathic reinforcement to the forces favorable
to human beings. (Calhoun 1987, p. 64)

In other words, the participants in these athletic contests believe and engage in sympathetic magic.
Körbs contributed a valuable and useful categorization of such cultic games into two types in
regard to their function. The first of them he denoted as magic, or as “Kampf um etwas,” that is,
a “fight for something,” thus aiming at having an effect. The second type constitutes cultic sports’
symbolic function—that is, their “Darstellung von etwas,” or “enactment of something,” which they
often do as these sports frequently mimic cosmic or mythic events, including “divine struggles.” These
two functional categories may also occur simultaneously, which they often do (Körbs 1960, p. 14;
Damm 1960, p. 9).

3. Buryat Cultic Sports

As a consequence of the above, participating in sports competitions that mimic or symbolize
cosmic or mythic events—often a battle of the forces of good against those of evil—and/or are considered
a means for intervention in these battles or “divine struggles,” has in most cases been considered to be
a sacred duty (Mathys 1958, p. 22). The Buryats have definitely seen their traditional sports this way
historically, and still do today. By engaging in them they have not only been attempting to intervene in
the affairs of the supernatural creatures that they believe in, but even to reach their goals by direct
interaction with them. How can this be?
As I reported in an earlier publication (Krist 2014, p. 425), works of rock art from the Neolithic that
depict anthropomorphic figures engaged in wrestling were discovered on rock faces near the banks of
Lake Baikal and its outlet, the river Angara. However, some of these figures bear zoomorphic features,
including horns on their heads, heads shaped like those of birds and with beaks, or trunks shaped
like those of four-legged animals. Thus, these figures are very reminiscent, if not congruent, with
figures clearly depicted for cultic purposes in the famous cave paintings of Lascaux and other places
in Southern France and Spain of the same time period (Müller 2006, pp. 8–9). What the Stone Age
artists of Southern Siberia have depicted are doubtlessly representations of ritual wrestling matches
(Okladnikov 1974, pp. 49–50 and 109–11; Reshetnikov and Rabetskaya 2007). This testifies that,
already back then, the people who lived in that region were “playing out these athletic contests” for
cultic-magic purposes.
The oldest written sources about the three traditional Mongolian sports can be found in the
Liao-Shi, the official chronicle of the Liao dynasty of imperial China, which was established by
the Khitan (a proto-Mongolian-speaking people in the northern parts of today’s China) and lasted
from 907 to 1125 CE. In this chronicle, we find detailed reports about wrestling and in particular,
archery competitions that were held in the course of imperial shamanistic praying ceremonies for
rain. (Wittfogel and F“eng 1949, pp. 176 (professional wrestlers), 219 and 277 (wrestling at weddings),
254 and 413 (wrestling as part of ceremonies at the imperial court), 267 (archery contest as part of an
imperial sacrificial ceremony for rain); see also Lkhagvasuren 1998, p. 14).
These ceremonies at the Liao imperial court show that the utilization of these sports for magical
purposes has been maintained by the people of that region through historic times, and even under
significantly changing socio-economic and cultural conditions. However, these ceremonies represent
already altered forms of the original life-ensuring magic rituals of the people of this region, as in those
the participants did not ask for rain, but for game and luck in hunting.
In the Mongols’ pre-Buddhist—and even Buddhist—religious beliefs and mythologies, wild
animals, of which many were hunted, play crucial roles. For instance, Mongols consider animals
such as the wolf, eagle, swan, or wild boar as totem animals (i.e., as the progenitors of their clans),
and thus consider themselves as descendants and relatives of such animals. The important role
that hunted wild animals play for them is understandable: firstly, because everywhere in the world
Religions 2019, 10, 306 7 of 21

hunting and gathering were humans’ first and by far longest lasting means of obtaining food, as the
Neolithic Revolution—the invention of crop growing and, in most cases after this, that of animal
husbandry—happened very late in human history (in the area under consideration here, this happened
approximately in the second millennium BCE); and secondly, because until about 3000 years ago,
forests also prevailed in the regions of today’s arid grasslands in Mongolia and China, as only then did
the climate change from a warmer and more humid one to a cold and dry climate—that is, a so-called
extreme continental one, which is still characteristic of this region today.
For those reasons alone, it seems natural that up to the present day, the Buryat wrestlers mimic a
wild animal—the eagle—in their devekh, a dance they perform before every match, and the winners
also perform it afterwards (Figure 4); that the sury (the leather or cloth cushions that serve as
targets in the archery competitions) symbolize the small rodents they used to hunt in large quantities
(Dugarova 2004, p. 20); and that often the bara, a ritual song of praise, is performed by the judges,
spectators, and competitors after an archer has hit a sur—a song which applauds the marksman
but more importantly aims at pleasing and gratifying the tiger-goddess of the same name, who is
the patroness of hunters, warriors, and archers, and who is believed to be invisibly present at the
competitions (Dugarova 2004, p. 23).
Thus, the Buryats play their sports for giving pleasure to “invisible” or “immaterial beings”, as
French anthropologist Hamayon (2016, p. 162) has put it, in order to maintain or regain their support;
and it is often animal spirits to whom they direct these activities.2 They imitate the animals for this
purpose, for example, in their devekh-dances.3 However, these sport games and dances originally had
only the supplementary function of distracting the spirits from the play, which the group’s shaman
performed simultaneously. By analyzing ethnographic reports from the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century about Buryat collective shamanistic rituals, which they were “playing”—naadaha in
Buryat—every year for nine days early in spring, Hamayon reveals their structure, logic, and purpose
and outlines them. These are summed up with additional explanatory remarks by the author of these
lines as follows.
In what was both a metaphorical play and a ritual, the shaman also imitated the hunted animals.
However, he did this with the purpose of directly attracting and finally marrying a female animal spirit
in order to receive a loving gift from her, which consisted of game (i.e., quarry for the hunters of his
group). In exchange for this gift—killed animals in fact—he needed to offer the spirits human lives or
at least human vital energy, which he did by offering himself, which he enacted by letting himself fall
and laying down motionless, thus, by fictionally dying. However, the present group members “woke
him up” in time, so that not too much “vital human energy” was taken by the spirits (i.e., not too many
of the group members would have died or died too early or become ill). Thus, the whole action was in
fact intended for tricking the spirits. Yet, this was believed necessary to ensuring the group’s survival.
Participation in these activities was therefore a requirement: the Buryat shaman had to perform his
play and his group members had to attend it and had to wrestle and dance, otherwise the intended
effect (i.e., hunting success) would have been considered impossible to achieve. (Hamayon 2016).

2 This and the next four paragraphs rest partially upon my review of Roberte Hamayon’s book Why we play (see bibliography),
published in Anthropos 113/1 (2018), pp. 296–98 (Krist 2018).
3 Whereas wrestlers in Buryatia and Mongolia (and also in Tyva and even in Turkey) imitate an eagle in these dances, the
Mongolian wrestlers in Inner Mongolia in China are an exception, as they imitate a lion.
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Figure4.4.Buryat
Figure Buryatwrestlers,
wrestlers,twotwo engaged
engaged in ainmatch
a match
and and one performing
one performing the “devekh”,
the “devekh”, thedance,
the eagle eagle
dance, during a wrestling tournament following an “oboo” ritual in China, Autonomous
during a wrestling tournament following an “oboo” ritual in China, Autonomous Region of Inner Region of
Inner Mongolia,
Mongolia, Hulunbuir
Hulunbuir City, inCity, in summer
summer 2018. Photo:
2018. Photo: Stefan Stefan
Krist. Krist.

Thus, these plays

Thus, plays andand games
gamesaimed
aimedatatananeffecteffectin in
thethe
“empirical
“empirical reality” (Hamayon
reality” (Hamayon 2016, pp.
2016,
297297
pp. andand
299), which
299), whichis outside
is outside the shaman’s
the shaman’splay playand andthethemen’s
men’ssports
sports competitions,
competitions, that is, in in the
the
“actualworld”
“actual world”oror“real
“reallife”
life”(Hamayon
(Hamayon 2016,
2016, pp.pp.6868and and 115).
115). In In order
order to to achieve
achieve thisthis desired
desired effect,
effect, all
all players—shamans,
players—shamans, wrestlers,
wrestlers, and and
dancersdancers alike—had
alike—had to playto their
play parts
their well
partsandwelldifferently
and differently
every
everyThat
time. time.is,That
theyis,
hadthey had to “customize”
to “customize” (Hamayon (Hamayon
2016, p. 2016, p. 180)
180) their their each
actions actions
timeeach
anew,time anew,
because
because otherwise,
otherwise, as immanent as immanent in this
in this “magic “magic
logic,” thelogic,”
spirits the
wouldspirits would
neither neither beby
be distracted distracted by the
the sportsmen
sportsmen
and dancersand nordancers
fooled by northefooled
shaman by the shaman again.
again.
Hence, these
Hence, these complex,
complex, “prescribed,
“prescribed, predictable,” yet not not “stereotyped,”
“stereotyped,” but but definitely
definitely
”communicative, and
“communicative, and shared”
shared” Naadan—which
Naadan—which in in the
the Buryat
Buryat language
language meansmeans bothboth “plays”
“plays” and and
“games”—constituteboth
“games”—constitute bothof ofKörbs’s
Körbs’scategories
categoriesof ofsuch
suchcultic
culticactivities:
activities: aa “fight
“fight for”
for” aa desired
desired effect
effect
andanan“enactment
and “enactment of” ‘”sublime”
of” the the ‘”sublime” or “divine”,
or “divine”, thus a case thus a case
in which the in which the
participants participants
simultaneously
simultaneously
“made the sacred “made
work”the assacred
well aswork”
“moreasperceptible
well as “more andperceptible
tangible” for andthem;
tangible”
and thefor means
them; and by
the means
which they by
didwhich theymetaphorical
this were did this werebodily
metaphorical bodily expressions—that
expressions—that is, metaphoricalis,play,
metaphorical
as Hamayon’s play,
as Hamayon’s characterization
characterization of them can be condensedof them can be condensed
(Hamayon 2016, pp.(Hamayon
279–94), and 2016, pp. 279–94),
“corporeal effort,”andas
“corporeal
Körbs has it.effort,” as Körbs has it.
Thatthe
That theBuryats
Buryatsusedused “body
“body language”
language” in these
in these NaadanNaadanis no is no surprise,
surprise, because, because,
as stated as above,
stated
above, “physical
“physical movement movement
is integral” is integral” to such
to such rituals. rituals.
It is It is not that
not surprising surprising that theymetaphors
they employed employed
metaphors
either, becauseeither,
this because
is a basicthisandisfundamental
a basic and fundamental
means of humans’ meanscognitive
of humans’ cognitive
activities, activities,
as “our thought as
“our thought
process[es]” process[es]”
are by are by necessity
necessity predominantly predominantly
characterized characterized
by “metaphorical by “metaphorical
structuring”, as Hamayon
structuring”,
(2016, as Hamayon
pp. 282–83) has put it(2016, pp. 282–83)
and which has put
she defines byitusing
and which
a quoteshe fromdefines by using
linguist Georgea Lakoff
quote from
and
linguist George
philosopher MarkLakoff
Johnson andasphilosopher
“understanding Markand Johnson as “understanding
experiencing one kind of thingand experiencing
or experience,one in
kind of thing or experience, in terms of another” (Hamayon 2016, p. 282 [quoted from Lakoff and
Johnson 1980, p. 5]). This we humans are indeed constantly doing. “Resorting”, explains Hamayon,
“to something tangible or well known”—in the case of the Buryats’ ritual plays and sports games,
Religions 2019, 10, 306 9 of 21

terms of another” (Hamayon 2016, p. 282 [quoted from Lakoff and Johnson 1980, p. 5]). This we
humans are indeed constantly doing. “Resorting”, explains Hamayon, “to something tangible or well
known”—in the case of the Buryats’ ritual plays and sports games, their movements which imitated
the hunted animals—“is what allows us to think something that is not so”—in the Buryat case the
realm of the animal spirits—“and possibly to manipulate it”—therein to have made those spirits give
the people enough game for survival (Hamayon 2016, p. 286).

4. Historical Developments in Buryat Economic Activities and Religious Affiliations and Their
Repercussions on Buryat Traditional Sports
However, by the nineteenth century these particular shamanic-ritualistic plays, in which the
three sports competitions played a direct and instant functional role (the aforesaid distraction of
the spirits), were no longer the typical seasonal, life-ensuring rituals of the Buryats, but rather rare
occurrences. The ethnographers of that time put down descriptions of these rituals, in what was
typical for ethnography everywhere then, as acts of “salvation ethnography”—that is, for preserving
the knowledge for future generations that such rituals had existed. Often their reports, such as many
writings of the renowned Buryat ethnographer Matvey Khangalov, were already historical ones—that
is, they constituted descriptions of what elders told them about how it was done in earlier times.
Instead, back then, the prevailing communal ritual which every Buryat clan organized at least
three times per year (one in the spring, one in the summer, and one in the fall, but sometimes even
more often) (Mikhaylov 1965, p. 11; Dashiyeva 1985, p. 4) was either a taylagan, in which the clan’s
shaman invoked the ancestor and protector spirits of the clan, made offerings to them (mainly of the
milk-schnaps, tarasun, other dairy products, and parts of the horse or ram sacrificed by the clan’s
members), and asked them to further protect the clan members and ensure the fertility of their livestock;
or an oboo ritual, which was basically the same, except that Buddhist deities were invoked in it and
the animal sacrifice was left out because it was not carried out by a shaman but by Buddhist lamas,
making the killing of living creatures impossible. However, both these prayer ceremonies were always
followed by a banquet, dances, and, compulsorily, by the three sports competitions.
This type of life-ensuring ritual developed among the Buryats—and all other Mongols—because
of their mixed subsistence economy of hunting and livestock breeding, in which the latter had become
more important over time. Therefore, as again the French anthropologist Roberte Hamayon explains
most clearly, they combined two “logics” in their magic activities: the “magic logic” typical of hunting
people, and the one typical for stockbreeding people. As hunters directly take from nature, namely
game, they directly negotiate with the spirits of nature. That is, they are equal partners in their
communication with them—a communication in which both partners try to trick the other, in other
words play with each other. Therefore, the hunters’ negotiators (i.e., their shamans) are essentially
playing; however, as stated above, this is on an obligatory basis: they are required to imitate the animals
that their people hunt (i.e., want to take), and to (symbolically) marry a female animal spirit because both
are necessary to become equal partners in these negotiations. Stockbreeders, on the other hand, produce
their source of life (i.e., their herds of livestock), and they inherit them. Thus, they are not directly taking
from nature (Hamayon 1994, pp. 78–85; Hamayon 2001, pp. 133–44; Hamayon 2003, pp. 63–66).
In other words, for them nature becomes—to use a Marxist notion—a means of production.
However, unlike capitalist entrepreneurs, they do not own this means. Therefore, they have to ask their
ancestor and protector spirits or the Buddhist deities to further provide them with the necessary means.
Hence, they are not equal partners of the spirits or gods, but subordinates to them. This is why they
cannot play with them, but have to pray to them; and why they cannot take from them, but instead
have to give them gifts in order to win or keep their favor, which they do by sacrificing an animal—a
horse or ram—and/or dairy products to them, both of which they have produced with their help.
The fact that the feast which followed this sacrificial ritual also had—in addition to joking, dancing,
and singing—to mandatorily comprise the sports competitions with their immanent mimicry and
symbolism of wild and hunted animals (i.e., the wrestlers’ performance of the eagle dance, archery
Religions 2019, 10, 306 10 of 21

targets symbolizing rodents, etc.) shows that the “magic logic” typical of hunters had not disappeared.
Yet, to make this clear, now both the sportsmen and the shamans—and definitely the Buddhist lamas
too—no longer saw their tasks as negotiating with the “invisible” or “immaterial beings” and in tricking
them, but in bringing joy to them by presenting gifts to them. The pleaders, which the participants of
the rituals now were, hoped, that these gifts would be reciprocated by their spirits or deities. To achieve
this goal, the participants in the rituals needed to show their spirits/deities that it was due to their
(that is, the spirits’ and/or deities’) care and protection that one was well and strong, and hence able to
present these gifts to them. Thus, the competitions were held with the purpose of proving and showing
the success of their care as well as its necessity. The belief was that if the spirits or deities were satisfied
with the gifts given and the entertainment shown to them, they would further protect those who gave
the gifts and played the games (Dashiyeva 1984, p. 136; Kabzińska-Stawarz 1987, p. 53; Alekseyev
and Gombozhapov 2000, pp. 151–52; Dugarova 2004, pp. 13 and 16). Thus, the sports competitions
were also seen as gifts, as symbolic sacrifices, to “the sublime,” as an “offering of oneself in gestures
and postures, in play and competitions.”
This transition from considering oneself “similar [ . . . ] in essence and status” to the animal spirits
at whom these rituals were originally directed, and whom the shaman thus could play and trick, to
becoming pleaders to “gods” (i.e., to supernatural beings “who are held to be different in essence and
higher in status”—to use the very apt phrases of a peer reviewer of this article once again) was not as
big a step to make for the Buryats as one might think. It was not, because they always believed in
a whole pantheon of gods in addition to their own souls and the souls or spirits of animals, plants,
mountains, waters, and all other entities in nature. Thus, their shamanism is in fact what is called
tengrianism or tengrism, as they believe in 99 heavenly tengri (i.e., gods), of whom 55 gracious ones
dwell in the western and 44 vicious ones in the eastern heaven and all have sons and daughters, who
either rove about on Earth or in the underworld. To live by all of these divine creatures by fearing,
praying to, or simply worshipping them is normal for a Buryat.
It is these above-described taylagan and oboo rituals that the Buryats have been carrying out
for centuries with the purpose of ensuring their survival. Put concisely, they can be denoted as
kin-group-based sacrificial prayer ceremonies—the first led by shamans, the latter by Buddhist
lamas—which are mandatorily followed by a feast and competitions in the three traditional Buryat
sports of wrestling, archery, and horse racing. Several of the earliest ethnographic reports on the
Buryats contain descriptions of these events, such as Johann Georg Gmelin’s Reise durch Sibirien
(Gmelin 1752, pp. 21–26) and Johann Gottlieb Georgi’s Bemerkungen einer Reise im Rußischen Reich
(Georgi 1775, pp. 316–19) from the first and second half of the eighteenth century, or Vasiliy Parshin’s
Poyezdka v zabaykal’skiy kray (Parshin 1844, pp. 61–63) from the first half of the nineteenth century. Quite
a few, often detailed, descriptions of these events can also be found in the rich ethnographic literature
about the Buryats produced by various Russian and Buryat authors—academics, travelers, exiles, local
historians, etc.—of the second half of the nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth century (see,
e.g., Khangalov 1880; Loginovskiy 1897; Golovachev 1902, pp. 112–13; Shagdaron and Ochirov 1909).
From sources of that time, we also know that there were not only taylagans that each clan held for
its members, but also some which were attended by members of several clans and brought together
thousands of people (Potanina 1912, p. 13; Dashiyeva 2001, p. 29).
The taylagan is the original form of the ritual, in which, as stated, the prayer part is carried out by
the clan’s shaman and the main sacrificial offering presented to the clan’s ancestor and protector spirits
is a horse or a ram. The oboo or oboo taykhu ritual is the Buddhist version of it, in which Buddhist
monks replace the shaman, pray to Buddhist deities, and no animal, but just tsagaan idee, “white food”
(i.e., dairy products) are sacrificed. However, the purpose of the ritual is, as also already stated, exactly
the same. The verb “taykhu”, from which also the noun “taylagan” derives, means in all Mongolian
languages, including Buryat, “to honor by making offerings” (cf. Babuyeva 2004, p. 192). In the first
case, the Buryats make these offerings to their shamanic spirits, in the latter case to Buddhist deities, but
in both cases the purpose is the same: to maintain the benevolence and support of these supernatural
Religions 2019, 10, 306 11 of 21

beings, on which they believe their survival depends. This is a prime example of how the Buddhist
monks, who have been coming to the Buryats from Tibet and Mongolia from the late seventeenth
century onwards, achieved much of their success in converting the Eastern Buryats (i.e., those east
of Lake Baikal and who make up four-fifths of all Buryats) to Buddhism: by carrying on shamanist
practices and incorporating them into the Buddhist belief system and ritualistic practices. The Buryats’
ancient belief in numerous tengri (i.e., in gods inhabiting heaven, Earth, and the underworld) certainly
helped the Buddhist monks to achieve this success, as many Buryats could accept that Buddhist deities
have now taken their place and protected them in the same way. Nonetheless, the Buddhist clergy
were unable to extinguish non-“Buddhistianized” shamanism. There have always been shamans, and
people have turned to them frequently to this day.
The missionary success achieved by the Buddhist lamas was nonetheless remarkable, as almost
all Eastern Buryats had converted to Buddhism in only about one hundred years, by the end of the
eighteenth century. The lamas’ utilization of the Buryats’ great love for their three traditional sports
played an important role in the success of this. They organized competitions in these sports not
only as parts of the oboo rituals, but also for accompanying various services at their monasteries,
most prominently the Maydar Khural—the worship service for Maytrea, the future Buddha, and one
of the highest sacred ceremonies of the Buddhist year, held annually in mid-summer. Also, when
high lamas from Tibet or Mongolia were visiting the datsans—which is what the Buryats call their
Buddhist monasteries—competitions in these three sports were often organized to honor the venerated
guests. Soon the datsans had their own wrestlers, whom the lamas provided with everything they
needed so that they could concentrate on practicing wrestling. In other words, the Buddhist clergy
became—to use a modern, yet perfectly fitting notion—potent sponsors of these sports. As a result,
these competitions in the Buddhist monasteries frequently attracted large numbers of Buryat sportsmen
and their aficionados, and thus contributed to the rise of the glory and importance of these monasteries
and to that of the Buddhist clergy and religion in general among the Buryats settled east of Lake Baikal.
However, the situation of the Buryats settled to the west of the lake was, and still is, different.
There, Buddhist missionary activity set in considerably later: only towards the end of the nineteenth
and beginning of the twentieth century. Before that time, it was clergymen of the Russian Orthodox
Church that tried to convert the Buryats there to their creed. The Russian Christian priests were
however much less successful than the Mongolian and Tibetan Buddhist lamas among the Eastern
Buryats. In the two-and-a-half centuries from the Russian conquest of the area in the seventeenth
century up to the end of the nineteenth century, they only converted slightly over 40% of the Western
Buryats to Russian Orthodox Christianity (Hundley 2010, p. 247; Mikhaylov 1994, p. 122), and even
these often did not become true believers of the new creed, which, for instance, came to the fore very
clearly when flocks of them left the Church immediately after Tsar Nikolay the Second had to grant
religious freedom in the wake of the empire-wide revolts of 1905 (Zhukovskaya 1995, p. 83). The vast
majority of the Western Buryats remained shamanist at any time and still do so today. Even those
among them who were, or are today, members of the Church have most typically not abandoned their
shamanist beliefs and cults (Humphrey 1983, p. 30; Montgomery 2005, p. 72), and the late-starting
Buddhist missionary activity was not very successful either. Thus, syncretistic religious practices
also emerged among Western Buryats, but among them the new religion (i.e., in most cases Russian
Orthodox Christianity) has played a much less important role than Buddhism did and does among the
Eastern Buryats. Hence, shamanism has remained their prime religious belief system and ritualistic
practice up to the present day.
As regards the three traditional Buryat sports, secular leaders and institutions have also utilized
them for their purposes. Khans and clan leaders have often recruited the best wrestlers and archers for
their life guards and elite troops, and also frequently organized competitions in the three sports after
victorious battles (Zhukovskaya 1988, p. 59; Bardamov and Fomin 1998, p. 141; Darzha 2003, p. 38;
Babuyeva 2004, p. 198; Krist 2014, p. 30). In times of peace, wealthy Buryat clan leaders nourished
Religions 2019, 10, 306 12 of 21

chosen wrestlers and furnished them with everything for months-long periods before competitions
(Khangalov 1880, p. 31).
Also the Tsarist state administration utilized them, as the lucid example of the large event shows,
which in the summer of 1814 was organized in Kyakhta—then a booming commercial town at the
border with the Chinese Empire—for celebrating the fall of Paris and the victory over Napoleon two
years earlier. Central parts of this celebration’s three-day-long program consisted of large competitions
in the three Buryat sports, including a horse race with more than one hundred participating horses
(Shchapov 1908, pp. 710–12).
However, the utilization of the Buryats’ traditional sports for political purposes reached its peak
under the regime following that of the Tsars. From the very beginning of their rule, the Soviet state and
party cadres organized competitions in these sports as aimak—that is, district games named Surkharban
and at a large Republic Surkharban held annually in Verkhneudinsk (later renamed as Ulan-Ude), the
capital of the newly founded Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. From the early
1930s onwards, they also organized kolkhoz games, that is, on the level of the newly and forcefully
established collective farms. These events were intensively used for state and party propaganda,
and as an intended consequence of the described organization scheme, the sportsmen competed
as members of their work units or as inhabitants of particular administrative units (Humphrey
1983, p. 381). Thus, these sports competitions, which formerly had mostly been the matter of kin
groups, were now made events of the new Soviet production and administrative units and tightly
linked with Soviet ideology (Ocherki istorii kul’tury Buryatii 1974, p. 287; Humphrey 1983, pp. 380–82;
Vatanabe 1994, p. 54). Through changes to the rules, outfits, and equipment, the traditional Buryat
sports were made very similar to international sports, in order to make them preparatory exercises
for them and also as an openly declared measure against “ethnic nationalism or separatism”
(Eichberg [1991] 1998, p. 134). In that way, in the seven decades of Soviet rule these sports lost
much of their particular Buryat national character. Yet, their most incisive derogation, which the
Soviet cadres invariably forced through, was their total secularization. The state- and party-organized
competitions were stand-alone events not linked to any religious ritual, and were deprived of any
religious elements, including even the devekh, the eagle dance of the wrestlers.
Nonetheless, the Buryats did not forget their traditions, and the Soviets evidently failed in their
attempt to eradicate their religious beliefs. Although both shamans and lamas were persecuted at
times and their spiritual activities were heavily thwarted and impeded during almost the whole Soviet
period and almost all datsans were closed and destroyed in the 1930s, some taylagans have always
been carried out in the traditional way (i.e., as sacrificial rituals of kin groups), and some of these have
even been accompanied by traditional sports competitions (Mikhaylov 1971, pp. 66–67). In the late
1980s, when President Gorbachev’s reforms finally created a more liberal social and political climate in
the Soviet Union, an “outburst”, as Caroline Humphrey has aptly put it, of both taylagan and oboo
rituals set in, and the authorities no longer tried to thwart or impede them (Humphrey 1989, p. 168;
Musch 2006, p. 19), even though their religious purpose was made perfectly clear. This volte-face of
the authorities was also manifested in the purchase and exhibition of an abstract-decorative metal
sculpture by the Buryat ASSR’s Fine Art Museum in 1987, which was made by the Buryat metalsmith
Radna Sanzhitov and titled “Surkharban”. The sculpture’s rendering of the shamanic world tree,
celestial bodies, and arrows clearly reveals the original religious meaning of these sports events to the
viewer: people’s attempt to connect with their sacred heavenly creatures (Figure 5).
After the definitive fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was also the state’s sports administrators—now
serving the semi-autonomous Republic of Buryatia of the Russian Federation—who were the first to
undertake measures to re-traditionalize the Buryat sports competitions. For example, the time limit and
point system introduced for Buryat wrestling in the Soviet period were abandoned, and an archery
competition for senior archers—who were called upon to use traditional bows instead of modern
plastic ones and to wear traditional Buryat garb—was added to the Republic Surkharban’s program.
Religions 2019, 10, 306 13 of 21
Religions 2019, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 22

Figure 5.
Figure 5. Buryat
Buryat blacksmith
blacksmith Radna
Radna Sanzhitov’s
Sanzhitov’s sculpture
sculpture “Surkharban”,
“Surkharban”, wrought
wrought iron, 1987. Photo:
iron, 1987. Photo:
Stefan Krist
Stefan Krist (by
(by courtesy
courtesy of
of the
the Sampilov
Sampilov Fine
Fine Art
Art Museum
Museum of
of the
the Republic
Republic of
of Buryatia).
Buryatia).

However,ititwas
However, wasnot
notthethe state’s
state’s sports
sports authorities
authorities thatthat changed
changed the Buryat
the Buryat traditional
traditional sportssports the
the most
most
in the in
lastthe last two-and-a-half
two-and-a-half decades, decades, but theoflamas
but the lamas of the
the largest andlargest
most and most influential
influential Buddhist
Buddhist institution
institution
in Buryatia—thein Buryatia—the “Buddhist Sangkha
“Buddhist Traditional Traditional Sangkha
(which (which
translates translates as or
as “Assembly” “Assembly”
“Community or
“Community
of Monks”) ofofRussia”
Monks”) of Russia”
under under the
the leadership of leadership
Khambo-lama of Khambo-lama
Damba Ayusheyev. Damba From Ayusheyev.
about
From
the about theonwards,
mid-1990s mid-1990s onwards,
the favorable thedevelopment
favorable development
of all threeof all three traditional
traditional Buryat sports Buryatandsports
their
and their re-traditionalization
re-traditionalization was—in the was—in the modes
particular particular
and modes and preferred—one
styles they styles they preferred—one
of their prime ofgoals.
their
primeimportantly,
Most goals. Mostthey importantly, they once
once more tightly more
linked tightly linkedwith
the competitions theBuddhist
competitions with
rituals. Buddhist
In 1996, Eryn
rituals. Naadan
Gurban In 1996,(i.e.,
Eryn
theGurban
“ThreeNaadan (i.e., the as
Manly Games”, “Three Manly Games”,
their traditional name as their traditional
translates, and which name
has
translates,
been and which
used again by thehas beensince
lamas usedthen)
again by the
were partlamas
of thesince then) were
celebrations part
of the of the
50th celebrations
anniversary of
of the
the 50thofanniversary
datsan Ivolginsk; inof1997,
the datsan of Ivolginsk;
such games in 1997,in
were organized such
honorgames
of a were
visitingorganized in honorlama
high Mongolian of a
visiting
at high Mongolian
the datsans of Ivolginsk lamaandatKizhinga;
the datsans andofsince
Ivolginsk and Kizhinga;
2003 they have againand since an
become 2003 they have
integral part
again
of becomeKhurals—the
the Maydar an integral main part Buddhist
of the Maydar Khurals—the
ceremonies main Buddhist
of the summer—at the datsanceremonies of the
of Ivolginsk as
summer—at
well as at otherthe datsans
datsan ofasIvolginsk
it was (as asmentioned)
well as at other datsans in
customary as pre-Soviet
it was (as mentioned)
times. Also, customary in
since 2008,
pre-Soviet times.
prestigious Also, since
Eryn Gurban 2008, have
Naadan prestigious Eryn Gurban
been organized Naadan
annually have
at the been of
datsan organized
Egituy inannually
Eastern
at the datsan
Buryatia, whereof Egituy in Eastern
the Zandan Zhuu,Buryatia,
a famouswheresandal thewood
Zandan Zhuu, statue,
Buddha a famous sandal
is kept; andwoodmany Buddha
more
statue, is kept;
Buddhist sacredand many more
ceremonies Buddhist
have sacred ceremonies
been accompanied by thehave
games beenall accompanied
over the Republic by theofgames all
Buryatia
overother
and the Republic of Buryatia
regions with andBuryat
significant other regions withsince
population significant
about theBuryat population
middle of the firstsince
decadeabout
of the
middle of thecentury,
twenty-first first decade
manyofofthe twenty-first
them century,
also organized many ofThus,
annually. themthe also organized
Buddhist annually.
clergy Thus,
has created
the Buddhist clergy has created an actual annual season for these games (i.e., a series of Eryn Gurban
Naadans), starting in April and ending in September with the season’s climax, the games in honor of
Religions 2019, 10, 306 14 of 21

anReligions
actual2019,
annual season
10, x FOR PEERfor these games (i.e., a series of Eryn Gurban Naadans), starting 14
REVIEW inofApril
22
and ending in September with the season’s climax, the games in honor of Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov
Dashi-Dorzho
(1852–1927), Itigelovkhambo-lama,
the twelfth (1852–1927), the twelfth
whose khambo-lama,
body, whose away
although he passed body, more
although
than he passedago,
90 years
away more than 90 years ago, is for so-far unknown reasons not decaying and is displayed in the
is for so-far unknown reasons not decaying and is displayed in the datsan of Ivolginsk.
datsan of Ivolginsk.
Thus, as they now organize the vast majority of the competitions, the Buddhist Traditional
Thus, as they now organize the vast majority of the competitions, the Buddhist Traditional
Sangkha has taken over the control of the traditional Buryat sports from the state authorities, at least in
Sangkha has taken over the control of the traditional Buryat sports from the state authorities, at least
the regions where Buddhism is the main religion of the Buryats. All these Eryn Gurban Naadan are
in the regions where Buddhism is the main religion of the Buryats. All these Eryn Gurban Naadan
organized in a very traditionalistic manner: all archers have to wear traditional Buryat garb and use
are organized in a very traditionalistic manner: all archers have to wear traditional Buryat garb and
(more
use (more ortraditional
or less) Buryat
less) traditional bows;
Buryat horse
bows; races
horse are are
races runrun
over long
over distances,
long from
distances, from 7 to 2828
7 to km;
km;and
wrestlers have to wear and use the traditional waist belts and obey the re-established traditional
and wrestlers have to wear and use the traditional waist belts and obey the re-established traditional rules,
including the mandatory
rules, including performance
the mandatory of the of
performance devekh, the eagle
the devekh, dancedance
the eagle (Figure 6). 6).
(Figure

Figure
Figure 6. 6.Youth
Youthwrestling
wrestlingtournament
tournament during
during “Eryn
“ErynGurban
GurbanNaadan”
Naadan”organized in in
organized thethe
Tamchinskiy
Tamchinskiy
Datsan in Southern Buryatia in summer 2011. Photo: Stefan Krist.
Datsan in Southern Buryatia in summer 2011. Photo: Stefan Krist.

Thedevelopment
The development waswas different
different among
amongthe theBuryats
Buryatssettled to the
settled westwest
to the of Lake Baikal,
of Lake where,
Baikal, as
where,
asdescribed,
described,shamanism
shamanismremained
remained their main
their mainreligion and
religion andwhere
where stillstill
today
todaythere areare
there lessless
than a a
than
handful
handful ofof Buddhist
Buddhist datsans
datsans withquite
with quitesmall
smallnumbers
numbersofoflamas.
lamas.There,
There,due duetotothe
theweak
weakposition
positionofofthe
the Buddhist
Buddhist clergyclergy
and theand the almost
almost total absence
total absence of datsans,
of datsans, the state-organized
the state-organized Surkharbans,
Surkharbans, although
not being very numerous, have maintained an important role in the sphere of Buryatoftraditional
although not being very numerous, have maintained an important role in the sphere Buryat
traditional
sports. sports. tradition,
Yet, another Yet, another tradition, unsurprisingly
unsurprisingly a shamanic
a shamanic one, one, wasthere,
was revitalized revitalized there, an
which plays
which plays an important role up to the present day. This is the Yordinskiye Igry, the “Games of the
important role up to the present day. This is the Yordinskiye Igry, the “Games of the Yord”, which
Yord”, which is a dome-shaped hill over 40-m-high, located close to the western shore of Lake Baikal
is a dome-shaped hill over 40-m-high, located close to the western shore of Lake Baikal in a region
in a region with a predominantly Buryat population. In 2000, after an intermittence of more than a
with a predominantly Buryat population. In 2000, after an intermittence of more than a century and
century and having almost vanished into oblivion, the big traditional all-Buryat (i.e., trans-clan)
having almost vanished into oblivion, the big traditional all-Buryat (i.e., trans-clan) taylagan at this
taylagan at this “world axis,” as this truly remarkable little mountain is considered by many Buryats,
“world axis,” as this truly remarkable little mountain is considered by many Buryats, was resumed and
was resumed and accompanied by large-scale competitions in the traditional sports (Sodnompilov
accompanied by large-scale competitions in the traditional sports (Sodnompilov 2000; Babuyeva 2004,
Religions 2019, 10, 306 15 of 21
Religions 2019, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW 15 of 22

pp.2000;
176–80). In 2005,
Babuyeva 2011,
2004, pp.and from then
176–80). onwards,
In 2005, this from
2011, and was repeated every other
then onwards, year,
this was at ever growing
repeated every
scales (Figure 7).
other year, at ever growing scales (Figure 7).

Figure
Figure 7. 7.The
Thehill
hill“Yord”
“Yord”ininthe
themorning
morning of
of the
the first
first day
dayof
ofthe
the“Games
“Gamesofofthe
theYord”
Yord”ofof
2011. Photo:
2011. Photo:
Stefan Krist.
Stefan Krist.

Each
Each time,
time, thousands
thousands of people
of people gathergather
there to there to worship
worship together.together.
Dozens ofDozens
shamans, of representing
shamans,
representing various regional and trans-regional shamanist associations perform
various regional and trans-regional shamanist associations perform sacrificial rituals (i.e., taylagans) sacrificial rituals at
(i.e., taylagans) at the foot of the Yord (Figure 8). However, the main ritual
the foot of the Yord (Figure 8). However, the main ritual and climax of the usually two-day celebration and climax of the usually
two-day celebration
constitutes a yokhor—aconstitutes a yokhor—a
typical Buryat round typical
dance. Buryat
A yokhorround dance. A
is danced yokhor by
together is danced together of
representatives
by representatives of both sexes. They form a closed circle by holding hands and move clockwise,
both sexes. They form a closed circle by holding hands and move clockwise, and in the case where
and in the case where the dance is performed for ritual purposes, around an object representing the
the dance is performed for ritual purposes, around an object representing the world axis or world
world axis or world tree, which it is believed connects this world and its inhabitants with heaven
tree, which it is believed connects this world and its inhabitants with heaven and its sacred creatures.
and its sacred creatures. Round dances of this type and spiritual meaning are part of the traditional
Round dances of this type and spiritual meaning are part of the traditional culture of the Evens
culture of the Evens (Dugarov 1991, p. 144) and other ethnic groups of the Siberian taiga (Babuyeva
(Dugarov 1991, p. 144) and other ethnic groups of the Siberian taiga (Babuyeva 2004, pp. 180–81), that
2004, pp. 180–81), that is, the hunting people settled to the north of the Buryats. However, among the
is, Mongolian
the huntinggroups,
peopleitsettled
is onlytothe
theBuryats
north ofwho the dance
Buryats. suchHowever, among the2004,
dances (Babuyeva Mongolian
p. 181),groups,
which isit is
onlyanother proof of the strong role “hunting magic” or, in other words, a believedthe
the Buryats who dance such dances (Babuyeva 2004, p. 181), which is another proof of strong
direct
role “hunting magic”
communication withor, in other
spirits, playswords,
amonga thembelieved direct to
compared communication
the other Mongols. with spirits, plays among
them compared to the other Mongols.
In the case of the Yordynskie Igry, the yokhor is danced around the mountain Yord (Figure 9),
forIn the case
which of the Yordynskie
a minimum of 700 dancersIgry, the yokhor
is needed is danced
in order to closearound thewhich
the circle, mountain Yord (Figure
is considered to be 9),
fornecessary
which a minimum
for ensuring ofthe
700success
dancers ofistheneeded
ritual, in
as order
a closedto close
circle the circle, which
is believed to ward is considered to be
off evil spirits,
necessary
and thusfor to ensuring the success
let the coming year beofathe
good ritual,
one as a closed1991,
(Dugarov circlep.is144;
believed
Babuyevato ward
2004,offp.evil
178)spirits,
(Figureand
thus9). to
During
let thethe dance,year
coming the main local one
be a good Buryat shaman,1991,
(Dugarov which for more
p. 144; than two
Babuyeva 2004, decades
p. 178)has been 9).
(Figure
Valentin
During the Khagdayev
dance, the main and local
who has
Buryatalsoshaman,
played which
a leading role inthan
for more the two
revitalization
decades has of been
the games,
Valentin
stands onand
Khagdayev the who
top ofhasthe
alsomountain
played a and invokes
leading role inthethespirits and prays
revitalization to them
of the games, onstands
behalfon ofthe
thetop
worshippers around the mountain. He wears a crown with deer antlers,
of the mountain and invokes the spirits and prays to them on behalf of the worshippers around the thus mimicking a hunted
animal (Figure
mountain. 10). a crown with deer antlers, thus mimicking a hunted animal (Figure 10).
He wears
Religions 2019, 10, 306 16 of 21
Religions 2019, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW 16 of 22

Figure
Figure 8. 8.
AA groupofofBuryat
group Buryatshamans
shamansperforming
performing aa sacrificial
sacrificialprayer
prayerritual
ritualduring
duringthe “Games
the of of
“Games thethe
Yord” at the foot of the hill “Yord” in 2011. Photo: Stefan Krist.
Yord” at the foot of the hill “Yord” in 2011. Photo: Stefan Krist.

Figure
Figure 9. Buryat
9. Buryat andand other
other worshippers
worshippers dancing
dancing a giant
a giant “yokhor”
“yokhor” roundround
dancedance around
around the “Yord”
the hill hill
“Yord” to allow the coming year to be a good one (2011). Photo: Stefan
to allow the coming year to be a good one (2011). Photo: Stefan Krist. Krist.
Religions 2019, 10, 306 17 of 21
Religions 2019, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW 17 of 22

Figure
Figure 10. 10. Buryat
Buryat shamanshaman Valentin
Valentin Khagdayev
Khagdayev after descending
after descending from
from the hill the hill after
“Yord” “Yord” after
performing
performing the prayer ritual on its top during the worshippers’ “yokhor” dance around it (2011).
the prayer ritual on its top during the worshippers’ “yokhor” dance around it (2011). Photo: Stefan Krist.
Photo: Stefan Krist.
Before this climax of the event, there is a two-day-long concert and dance program performed on a
Before
stage built thisfoot
at the climax of mountain,
of the the event, there is a two-day-long
and people concert
cheer and feast; and
and, dance
also program
for two performed
days, competitions
on a stage built at the foot of the mountain, and people cheer and feast; and, also for
in the three traditional Buryat sports as well as in the sports of other Siberian indigenous ethnic two days,
groups
competitions in the three traditional Buryat sports as well as in the sports of other Siberian
(e.g., Yakutian jumps) are carried out. Thus, this event, which is always attended by thousands of
indigenous ethnic groups (e.g., Yakutian jumps) are carried out. Thus, this event, which is always
people (predominantly but not exclusively Buryats) constitutes an impressively large-scale shamanist
attended by thousands of people (predominantly but not exclusively Buryats) constitutes an
ritual—probably one of the largest in the world today—which includes all components traditionally
impressively large-scale shamanist ritual—probably one of the largest in the world today—which
considered necessary, among them sports competitions, which again play a crucial role in and for it
includes all components traditionally considered necessary, among them sports competitions, which
(Figure 11).
again play a crucial role in and for it (Figure 11).
Religions 2019, 10, 306 18 of 21
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Figure
Figure 11.11. Wrestlers
Wrestlers at at
thethe foot
foot of the
of the hillhill “Yord”
“Yord” at the
at the “Games
“Games of the
of the Yord”
Yord” of 2011.
of 2011. Photo:
Photo: Stefan
Stefan Krist.
Krist.
5. Conclusions
5. Conclusions
Ensuing from the well-documented principal link between sports and rituals, their logically
concludedEnsuing
commonfromorigin
the well-documented
as well as the common principalmagic
link between
function sports
they haveand had
rituals,
andtheir logically
still have today
concluded common origin as well as the common magic function they have
for many groups of people, this paper analyzed the historical and present forms of the three traditional had and still have
todaysports,
Buryat for manyandgroups of people,
in particular, theirthis paper analyzed
religious meaning.the historical and present forms of the three
traditional
Works ofBuryat
rock artsports,
fromandthein particular,
Neolithic theirnear
found religious
Lakemeaning.
Baikal prove that sports competitions—at
any rate, wrestling matches—were also carried out for ritualnear
Works of rock art from the Neolithic found Lake early
purposes Baikal
on inprove that of
the region sports
Buryat
competitions—at any rate, wrestling matches—were also carried out for ritual purposes early on in
settlement. Written sources from the Middle Ages (Liao Dynasty) prove their historical continuity, and
the region of Buryat settlement. Written sources from the Middle Ages (Liao Dynasty) prove their
furthermore, that there were experts (i.e., shamans) for carrying out the rituals that aimed to ensure
historical continuity, and furthermore, that there were experts (i.e., shamans) for carrying out the
fertility and survival, and in which sports—in that case predominantly archery competitions—played
rituals that aimed to ensure fertility and survival, and in which sports—in that case predominantly
a crucial role.
archery competitions—played a crucial role.
The analysis of ethnographic sources from the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries
The analysis of ethnographic sources from the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries
(including
(includingmy myown ownobservations)
observations) proveprove that that the
the Buryat shamanisticrituals
Buryat shamanistic ritualsforforthe
thesame
same purpose
purpose
constitute
constitutea aprime
primeexample
exampleof ofsports’
sports’ andand rituals’ primordialpurpose
rituals’ primordial purposeofofononthe theone
onehandhand making
making
imagined cosmic and divine events more perceptible and tangible for people,
imagined cosmic and divine events more perceptible and tangible for people, and on the other hand and on the other hand
providing people with the possibility of influencing these events. Furthermore,
providing people with the possibility of influencing these events. Furthermore, I have shown that I have shown that
thethe
Buryats’
Buryats’traditional
traditionalmixed
mixed economy
economy of hunting and stockbreeding
of hunting and stockbreeding is reflected in the in
is reflected two differing
the two
magical activities
differing magical of activities
these rituals: the one
of these typical
rituals: for hunters
the one (i.e.,hunters
typical for direct negotiation with the imagined
(i.e., direct negotiation with
sacred creatures),
the imagined and creatures),
sacred the one typical
and theforonestockbreeders (i.e., pleading(i.e.,
typical for stockbreeders to the divine).
pleading to the divine).
It was
It was alsoalso
shownshownthat that
neitherneither (Tibetan)
(Tibetan) BuddhismBuddhism nor (Russian
nor (Russian Orthodox) Orthodox) Christianity,
Christianity, including
theincluding
missionary the activities
missionary of activities
lamas andofpriestslamas since
and priests since the seventeenth
the seventeenth century andcentury and the of
the conversion
conversion
a majority of of a majority
Buryats to oneof or
Buryats to one
the other of or the religions,
these other of these religions,
eradicated theeradicated the Buryats’
Buryats’ beliefs in their
beliefs in their shamanistic rituals for ensuring survival and the crucial role their
shamanistic rituals for ensuring survival and the crucial role their sports competitions plays in these sports competitions
plays The
rituals. in these rituals.lamas
Buddhist The Buddhist
principallylamas fullyprincipally fully incorporated
incorporated these rituals these ritualsinto
and sports and the
sports into
Buddhist
Religions 2019, 10, 306 19 of 21

belief system and ritualistic practices, not changing their meaning at all, and conversion to Christianity
remained only at a very formal and shallow level among baptized Buryats, and therefore did not affect
their shamanistic beliefs and practices at all, as they were continued as before.
Nearly 70 years of Soviet repression, or at least impediment, of any religious activity was also
unable to extinguish them. This can be said because soon after the breakdown of the Soviet Union,
the three traditional Buryat sports flourished again, commonly accompanying a variety of Buddhist
ceremonies as well as shamanistic rituals, including the Games of the Mountain Yord, a biennial,
large-scale, all-Buryat, and in fact open to everyone sacrificial prayer ceremony, lasting for two days
and including large competitions in traditional sports.
Thus, the three traditional Buryat sports are a vivid example of the great constancy which the
engagement in sports for religious purposes can have, and that even today, active sportspeople
view themselves as agents in the communication between people and the sacred creatures in which
they believe.

Funding: My ethnographic fieldwork that this article rests upon was made possible in parts by MOEL-Plus
Grant of the Austrian Science Community (Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft), Geist Fund Grant of the
Museum of the North of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Global
Change Student Research Grant with funds from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Global Change,
and Graduate School Travel Grant of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.

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