Singing to the Plants: Buryat Shamanism Exhibit

This caught my eye since we've been discussing Christianity and shamanism here and here.


Singing to the Plants: Buryat Shamanism Exhibit: "The first seventy years of Soviet power, writes historian Philip Walters, 'saw a sustained offensive against religion on a scale unprecedented in history.' Shamanism — sometimes called black faith — was a particular target; shamans in Siberia were subject to public denunciation, confiscation of their property, and imprisonment. Their drums were impounded, and they were branded kulaks, class enemies — not a frivolous charge, since many shamans were in fact centers of anti-Soviet resistance. Olga Kharitidi tells how, in the 1930s, a number of influential Altai shamans were taken by Soviet KGB employees to Kazakhstan and dumped from a train into the snow."