During the Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project and Overland Experts trip, we were lucky enough to meet up with a local Shaman while we were near Khara-khorum. Shamanism was the preliminary religious/spiritual path of Mongolia, and though Buddhism later became the main practice, Shamanism is still practiced today and is still an important part of Mongolian culture. This shaman and his wife were kind enough to perform a ceremony giving us good luck on our travels.
The Shaman’s shrine was set up in the back seat of his car, featuring beautiful prayer scarves and horse statues representing the important spirits that he worked with. As you can see from these photos, their traditional clothing was stunning. Eagle feathers decorated their headdresses, and fabric snakes, a very important animal in shamanism, were sown onto their coats.
These two wonderful people were also kind enough to travel with us as we drove to the new Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project location and performed another ceremony there, where they blessed our dogs and gave us insight and advice for our project as we continued. It was an incredible experience and we were very grateful for their time and energy.