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Related links:
 FACTS ABOUT BAIKAL
Other Sites:
Buryat Shamanism
Folklore and Mythology
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“Swan-girls went down from the sky to some place on the Olkhon Island. A youth sneaked up and stole the plumage of one of the celestial girls, so she could not fly away with her friends. Having become a wife of an earthling, the swan-girl bore a boy destined to become the forefather of Khorin Buryats. Somewhere there, on the shore rocks, a childless shaman women by the name of Asukhan and Khusykhen stole a playing boy who became the founder of Ekhirit Buryats.”
International Affairs, “Glorius Sea”, p. 86. Alexei Tivanenko. Senior Researcher of the Buryat Scientific Research Center, RAS Siberian Branch.
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The Buryat Republic, population 1,049,000, is an autonomous republic in the South-Central region of Siberia along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal. The 351,300 sq. km area was first colonized in the 1600’s by Russians in search of wealth, furs and gold. In 1923, the republic was created through the union of the Buryat-Mongol and Mongol-Buryat Oblasts. The republic’s economy is composed of important agricultural and commercial products including wheat, vegetables, potatoes, timber, leather and textiles. Fishing, hunting, fur farming, mining, stock raising and food processing are also important economic generators. The Buryat Republic’s capitol, Ulan Ude, rests at the junction of the Uda and Selenga Rivers. Ulan Ude’s current population is 386,000.
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The Buryats, numbering approximately 350,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia, and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Republic of Buryataia. Buryats are of Mongolian descent and share many customs with their Mongolian cousins including nomadic herding and setting up yurts for shelter. Today, the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan Ude, the capitol of the republic, although many live more traditionally in the countryside.
The Buryats have not always been a part of Russia. As far back as 1625-1627, the Russian tsar sent an expedition to explore the Bratskaya land. This first boat expedition, underestimating the ferocity of the Angara River’s rapids, never completed the journey, but nevertheless heard that Buryat farmers were eager to trade. Reports continued to tell of an infinite number of horses, cows, sheep and camels in Bratskaya and rich crops of barley and buckwheat. Unfortunately, later when the first Russian units arrived, armed conflicts occurred, the Russian’s built a small fort at Bratsk. In 1658, the town of Nerchinsk was founded at the mouth of the Nerch River. Trade picked up, as groups of Russian peasants, hunters, fishermen and handicraftsmen began migrating to the area, and the conflicts between Buryats and Russians settled down. After a consulatory visit through the area in 1675, Nikolai Spafary noted the peaceful coexistence of Russian peasants and Buryats. The Buryats and the Russians were mingling, both professionally and socially. Intermarriages occurred and the mixed population began growing. With the cultural mixing, the traditional Buryat customs began to give way to modern practices. As closer relations fluorished, not all Buryats were pleased with the notion of becoming Russian subjects. Some Buryats, dissatisfied with the proposed tsarist rule, fled to Mongolia, only to return to their native country saying, “[Mongolia’s] Khan beheads culprits, but the Russian Tsar just flogs them. Let us become subjects of the Russian Tsar,”
(Alexander Preobrazhensky. “The Beginning of Common Road,” Russian monthly magazine International Affairs, May 1993).
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The Old Believers, or semeiskie as they are called in Siberia, make up a unique regional ethnographic group. They were founded more than 200 years ago by a group of religious dissenters unwilling to accept the liturgical reforms of the seventeenth century Russian Orthodox Church, in particular Patriarch Nikon. In 1650, Old Believers broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church, and led by Avvakum Petrovich, an archpriest who was later executed, they were cruelly persecuted for their actions by the government and the church. As a result, many devoutly religious Old Believers committed suicide by burning themselves. Eventually, the Old Believers divided into sects, some sects fleeing to the borderlands, others exiled to Siberia. In 1764, during the reign of Katherine the Great, Old Believers from Poland were taken into the remote wilds of Transbaikalia, which is now the Buryat Republic. Scattered across the region, they lived in isolation and preserved their beliefs, including their sacred two finger cross sign. They settled down and cultivated new lands, forming communities and faithfully following old traditions. In Siberia, they are called semeiskie (family) because unlike other exiles, many brought their entire families with them. In the Urals, they are known as Kerzhaks, in Romania, Lipovans and in Turkey, Nekrasov Cossacks. In 1971, the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church officially recognized the rites and practices of the Old Believers. The descendants of these original Old Believers still survive and practice many traditions and cultures of the past. Presently, Old Believers of Transbaikalia are a unique group, a colorful blend of Ukrainian, Belorussian and Polish culture. The Old Believers have preserved many of their Ukrainian, Belorussian and Polish traditions, beliefs, folk tales and songs. This is seen in several areas of their culture. For example, only semeiskie in Transbaikalia use the Ukrainian words bulba or lustochka(potato, bread). Family names and dialect, style of clothing and house decorations are also linked to their European past. In addition, music is particularly important to Old Believer culture. The great Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov notes that their songs are an example of “ancient pure Russian melody.” Even today in Buryatia, Semeiskie villages have gifted singers who follow the traditional singing styles and transfer this gift of music to their sons and daughters. Semeiskie folk groups performing the polyphonic, or multiple person and instrument singing of old Russian songs, have become quite famous in Russia and abroad.
For hundreds of years, bales of tea were transported from China to Russia. Camels and sledges carried the precious commodity almost year round through the deserts of Central Asia and the dense forests of Siberia. This passage, known as the Tea Road, became more than just a trade route over time and facilitated the development of economic and cultural exchange between East and West. There was intensive movement through the Gobi Desert in autumn, winter and spring, when the caravans made their journeys. In summer, commerce stopped and the Mongols let their camels go to the steppe and recover their strength for the next year of transport. The Tea Road started in Kalgan, a city located just behind the Great Wall, which separated China from Gobi. Tea arriving from South China was concentrated and processed here. In Kalgan, representatives from the Russian trading companies purchased the tea and sent the caravans northward. These slow-moving camel caravans went in winter and spring from Kalgan through the Gobi desert to Urga, Mongolia. After a superficial inspection in Urga, caravans continued their journey to Kyakhta, on the Russian Mongolian border. In Kyakhta, boxes of tea were inspected, sewed into raw bull hides called tsybics and marked. Bales containing the expensive black tea were more carefully packed using paper and foil wrappings to retard mold. Bundles of the paper and foil packed tea were then placed in bamboo boxes. The tsybics were loaded on carts or sledges and sent on to Irkutsk. At one time, Kyakhta was known for the number of millionaires who lived there. In 1861, Irkutsk became a customs city, responsible for enforcing the newly introduced taxing of tsybics. From Kyakhta to Irkutsk there were two roads; one led through the Khamar-Daban Mountains, the other through Selenginsk and Verkhneudinsk. Both roads led to Mysovaya Station, where cargo was delivered by ship to Port Lystvianka. The tea caravan continued to Europe and the Irbit Trade Fair. The Irbit Trade Fair took place in Permskaya Province every year during February and March. The fair, begun in 1646, soon became an important event for the exchange of European and Eastern goods. By the late 1800’s, gross sales totaled 30 to 50 million rubles, with the tea trade producing 12 to 20 percent of the sales. In addition to the Irbit Fair, tea trade fairs were held in Tobolsk and Nizhny Novgorod, where tea was sold at the local markets along the route and then distributed all over Russia.
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“Changes constantly occur in life, often resulting in many difficulties. Often these difficulties and problems can be solved simply by clearing and quieting the mind. Happiness and sufferings have two sources: one mental, at the other physical. Often the mental is stronger than the physical. For this reason I stress the necessity of training the mind to overcome sufferings and thereby achieve a more stable happiness. I believe the most universal and specific source of happiness is the peace inside us.”
- Dalai-Lama XIV
The Buddhist faith holds approximately 255 million followers all over the world. No one is exactly sure when the religion originated, but historians agree it was started at least 500 years before the birth of Christ. A Hindu prince named Siddhartha Gautama, known for his holiness and love for all living creatures, was called Buddha, “The Enlightened One.” In Buddhism, there is no Creation, no Heaven or Hell, and no beginning or end to time. Murder, unchastity, strong drink, and falsehood are forbidden in the Buddhist religion. At the sermon at Benares, Buddha claimed that one must recognize the four Noble Truths to live a good life:
Human life is an existence of suffering.
Human suffering is caused by things which cannot satisfy the spirit.
Man has the power to end his suffering by renouncing his ignorant desires.
Man can free himself of desire by following the Noble Eightfold Path of right views, right aspirations, right efforts, right thoughts, right contemplation, right mode of livelihood, right speech, and right behavior.
Buddhism occupies an important space in the hearts of many in Buryatia. After the fall of the Soviet Union, there has been a religious renaissance and many people in the region follow the teachings of Buddha. This includes the time-honored natural healing practices passed down from ancient times. Tibbetan buddhist medical practices that are still widely practiced provide one of the most important links to the past.
Buryatia holds a special place in the history of Buddhism. The first missionaries appeared there back in the 5th century A.D. However it was only in the 17th century that Buddhism began to win its place on the banks of the Selenga. In 1741, the first wooden temple or datsan was built. Over the next 150 years, at least 44 additional datsans were constructed in Buryatia where between 15,000 and 18,000 men served as lamas. Buddhism evoked the interest of the tsar’s government, in particular Indian-Tibetan medical treatment of herbs and acupuncture. Curious about this new healing practice, Tsar Alexander III called to his court, S. Badmayev, one of the doctors from the Transbaikal region, and requested his treatments. The new medical practice astonished St. Petersburg, as well as the European public. In a short while, this modest Buryat doctor from the shores of Baikal became a celebrity. S. Badmayev and his brother, P. Badmayev, opened a pharmacy and a clinic and soon earned a fortune. Their nephew, Zhamyan Badmayev graduated from the Military Surgical Academy, became a colonel of the medical service and was greatly admired by his men. It may be said that thanks to the efforts of the Badmayevs, the European public has radically changed its ideas about Buryatia, “the lost corner of Siberia” populated by ignorant and uncivilized aborigines.”
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