The Representations of Tuvans about Shamanic Headdresses Sounds of the Tambourine: Representations of the Tuvans of Russia and China about Dead Shamans

This article examines a little-studied stratum of archaic beliefs held by Russian and Chinese Tuvans about deceased shamans, which contain the main tenets of shamanic mythology: the three-part division of the world, the existence of an afterlife, and ideas about the chosen and powerful shaman. The features of the Tuvan shamanic funeral rite, which persisted until the mid-20th century, are described, and the reasons for the customary damage to the tambourine of the deceased shaman are examined. The article discusses views on the deathbed orders of shamans, which include contradictory functions: protecting the well-being of their descendants and harming enemies and abusers. General ideas about tambourine sounds near shamanic graves, consistently preserved among the Russian and Chinese Tuvans, are analyzed. It is revealed that, despite changes in the funeral rites of Tuvans in Russia and abroad over the past century–when there is no longer a need for posthumous storage of a shaman’s cult attributes next to his grave–beliefs about the sounds of the tambourine remain stable. The specific features of the sounds produced by the shamanic tambourine, their location, and the times of their audibility during specific periods of the day are described, and the motif of a predetermined number of tambourines in the Tuvan shamanic cult practice is examined. Ideas about the actions of deceased shamans (the ability to rock, beat a tambourine, appear in former human form, or appear as helper spirits) were initially associated with the belief in the close connection between the shaman’s life force and the tambourine, and the observance of the tradition of the shaman’s aerial burial with cult attributes, since, according to the Tuvans, the shaman’s life force remained near the burial. Today, modern Tuvans still maintain a stable motif regarding the connection between the shaman’s life force and the tambourine. They also hold a belief in the power and chosen status of a magical specialist, as well as the notion that the sounds of the tambourine serve a predictive function. The sources for this research include published and new field materials. The chronological framework of the study is from the mid-20th century to the early 21st century.

Tuvans of Russia, Tuvans of China, Tuvan shamanism, mythological beliefs, death of a shaman, sounds of a shamanic tambourine