What does it mean for shamans to have power if, despite claims of gender neutrality, being a female complicates the ways in which shamanic power is acquired? Female Burjats shamans in the town of Bayan-Uul. Just so things are clear, I classify shamanic powers as either official or unofficial. For male shamans to attain the rank of zaarin, they must complete thirteen shanars; for female shamans, the equivalent is duurisah, which requires seven shanars. Due to the shamans’ practice of staging their shanars every two or three years, becoming a zaarin or duurisah often requires a period of fifteen to twenty years.
The most widely recognized and public display of a shaman’s authority is the timely and well planned public performance of shanars. Each shanar culminates in a new set of paraphernalia that the shaman adorns with the origin spirits of their family or clan; for example, a bracelet and a mirror for the first shanar and an antelope-skin gown for the last.18 At the rites, each new origin spirit is given a piece of paraphernalia to use as a stepping stone.
A shaman might also learn new skills during the shanar ceremony. A teacher shaman may facilitate a harmonious connection between their student and the new ancestral spirits. After the instructor is possessed by the new origin spirit, the student gets to know it, learns its huudal buudal, and eventually becomes an expert at calling upon it. When the freshly introduced origin spirit takes possession of the student and starts communicating with the audience, the shanar is considered a success. The shaman’s abilities, wisdom, and power are amplified by the new origin spirit. The power of a shaman becomes apparent when their collection of paraphernalia grows, which represents the number of shanars performed.
Shamans rely on informal forms of authority, such as social networks and monetary wealth, to put the shanars on display. A person’s home and family are the first stops on the journey to shanar resource acquisition. In the beginning, female shamans have very little resources, support, and shamanic networks due to the fact that they marry outside of their birth families and join an unfamiliar patrilocal residence. In addition to higher distances traveled to seek assistance from their birth families, female shamans have the additional challenge of establishing networks and locating resources in a foreign environment.
From the get-go, male shamans have it better than their female counterparts in this field. They stay put in their hometowns or, on occasion, in the homes of members of their extended family. Because of their position as breadwinners, male shamans often have easier access to materials required to stage their shanars.
In addition, family life and the concept of gender roles within families were profoundly affected by the transition from state farms to domestic production following cattle privatization and the establishment of family-based livestock breeding. Under socialism, women had a position in the state that was roughly equivalent to that of males. Women are the principal producers in the home economy, which emerged after socialism’s elimination of paid state positions; yet, they do not always have influence over this sector. Women under socialism were expected to do double duty: bearing children for their husbands’ families (the so-called “lineages” were apparently abolished) and for the state.
In addition to this, they were also expected to labor for the state and generate material goods. Domestic production flourished under socialism, leading to private property and lineages “reviving.” Women were relegated to the roles of producer and reproducer, with the goal of bolstering male privilege and eventually held by males. Domestic subsistence food production fell on women, who therefore took on more duties and obligations to ensure their families’ survival. When women lost their access to government employment, they tended to their families, in-laws, and husbands’ extended relatives.
Women are both useful and vulnerable “outsiders both in their natal and marital households,” and although they work hard and have children, society views them as unworthy of the fruits of their effort. Still, one must be free from everyday household and family responsibilities while still receiving services and benefits from family members, using domestic space and household money, in order to become a full-fledged shaman and then successfully and continuously maintain that status.
Shamans, whether male or female, do require a “wife” a good, caring person who is knowledgeable about shamanism and who willingly plans her life around the shaman’s frequently unpredictable schedule. In rural nomadic households, a “wife” is essential for running the home and producing food that herders would otherwise purchase with cash or obtain from state farms. There is a great deal of time and effort required for shamanic rituals. For many days straight, the shaman must be completely absorbed in the process, and instant support from loved ones is also necessary. Nomadic herding, housekeeping, and caring for family members are daily demands on women that are in conflict with these rituals.
The state used to provide these services, as well as jobs, such as medical care, day care, and assistance with livestock, including moving livestock to new pastures, building fences, and buying raw materials. Before, the state would foot the bill for all of these events, but now individual families had to figure it out. It is customary for a male shaman’s family to assist him during ceremonies. Since the position of attendant is considered subservient, men seldom consent to serve a female shaman in that capacity. Only in very rare cases, such as when the husband is substantially younger than the wife or when the spouse is a shaman who trades “conversationalist” skills with the other.
Though she may not have meant to, a woman in a more conventional home who takes center stage challenges her husband’s authority and status, competes with him for dominance in the home, and fights against traditional male-centered beliefs. Because there are no public gathering places in rural areas, people often host out-of-town visitors in their homes. Visitors are welcome to spend the night, have meals with the hosts, and pitch in with the chores if they so choose.
The ger, or residential realm, also functions as a gathering place for the community. The home of the shaman is typically the focal point of the ceremony. Initiation of women as shamans challenges the customary gendered division of work, which entails males serving and women entertaining. The only way for female shamans to have help during rituals is if their husbands volunteer to serve them and step down from their prominent roles when guests are being entertained. Additionally, they must face the animosity of their husbands, which may originate from the fact that their wives’ shamanic performances have taken away their personal space and status.
Similarly, a female shaman need the same physical and stable space as a male shaman in order to carry out her rites and get support from her close circle of relatives. Many shamans find that they lose clientele and are unable to progress in their careers due to the lack of a fixed location.
Having left her house, Chimeg was demoted from her position. It was challenging for her to host celebrations and dinners after her shanars and ask teachers to conduct them since she did not have a house of her own. Clients who traveled great distances for lengthy rituals could not stay at her house. While looking for “authentic” and strong shamans, her clientele, scholars, tourists, and journalists all had a hard time finding her due to her precarious status. Simpler still, Chimeg was unable to build her social networks since she had no means of supporting her shamanic performances.
As a result, Chimeg would have been unable to stage her next shanar and progress in her abilities if she had not had the assistance and finances to acquire her paraphernalia, such as the antelope-skin robe and metal barrel. In contrast to male shamans, who effortlessly cultivate partnerships with blacksmiths, she lacked both the financial means and the flocks of sheep necessary to commission the metal components of her accoutrements. Despite her restricted travel options and social ties, she had to make an extra effort to locate a blacksmith.
Wet dog food: Lukullus wet dog food has a distinct combination of natural ingredients
Some aspects of time and space are more important than others for a shaman’s ability. Because of its spaciousness, the nomadic countryside is ideal for shamanic performances, which can involve elaborate rites performed for huge crowds. During the most lucrative period, which lasted from May 15th to September 15th, practitioners would conduct the most costly shanar rites and receive clients’ presents of ornamented birch trees and sheep as “a golden army” at the “doors” to the celestial world. A majority of the summers were devoted to ceremonial practice by powerful male shamans who lived in rural areas.
Shamans, who were frequently even impoverished than their patrons, would perform their rituals in gers or log houses surrounded by wooden fences, where it would be dark and uncomfortable. The intricate rites that included the sacrifice of a sheep were impossible to perform in such cramped interior settings, which could only hold fifteen people at most. Even though they were highly skilled, most female shamans could only perform smaller-scale rituals, like calming a spirit or reuniting a lost soul, because of space limitations.
These rituals also did not have a time limit. Female shamans were mostly located in the sedentary portion of Bayan-Uul rather than the nomadic countryside due to a lack of cattle and families to care for them. In the winter, customers who preferred not to travel to far areas to see male shamans may drop by for consultations and rituals. In Bayan-Uul, female shamans did not have access to the best location or time for ceremonies, unlike their male counterparts.