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Baikal ecosystem

Lake Baikal is between 51 29'N and 55 46'N latitude and 103 41'E and 109 57'E longitude. It is about 636 km long and about 80 km wide. Its broadest point is located between the villages of Onguryon on the western shore and Ust-Barguzin on the eastern shore, and its narrowest point is between the Selenga River Delta and the opposite western shore. The length of the coastline is about 2,100 km. There are 30 rocky islands on the lake, the biggest one being Olkhon Island which is more than 130 km2 in area. Legend has it that Olkhon Island is the birthplace of Mongolian ruler Genghis Khan (Chingiskhan). Compared with the other great lakes of the world, Lake Baikal is enormous. Lake Tanganyika is half of Baikal's size, and Lake Ladoga is 23 times smaller. Baikal's volume, at 23,600 km3, is greater than any other fresh water lake and makes approximately 20 percent of the world's surface fresh water. As a point of comparison, if you were to drain Lake Baikal, it would take the Great Lakes of the United States: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario to refill the empty basin.

At 1,620 meters, nearly a mile deep, it is without doubt the world's deepest lake. The surface area of all the tributaries that feed lake Baikal is about 560,000 km2. Of the 336 rivers and streams flowing into Baikal, only one, the Angara, flows out from it. At different times, researchers have counted varying numbers of tributaries, up to 544 depending on the amount of precipitation during the year.

The creation of Lake Baikal began following a geological cataclysm. Thermal energy deep within the Earth produced tectonic movements, shifting the Earth both horizontally and vertically and producing faults and rifts. These movements created the system of mountainous ridges and deep valleys extending from the North to the East and carved the lake's deep stone basin. Over thousands of years, the basin was filled by water from rain, rivers and streams.

The Lake Baikal basin includes three underwater depressions. The first, in the South, extends from Kultuk Bay to the Selenga River Delta (6,890 km2). The Middle Baikal Depression reaches from the Selenga River Delta to the underwater Academic Mountain Ridge (11,295 km2). The Northern Baikal Depression extends from the Ridge to Baikal's northern shore (13,315 km2). These conditions create a large deep-water lake, with a relatively small number of shallow areas.

Three factors, the depth of the lake, its huge volume of water, and its geographical position permit Baikal's somewhat unusual process of self-purification. This process produces unbelievably clear water. In fact, travel guides report that this has caused some problems with tourists susceptible to vertigo; some visitors feel uncomfortable when they peer over the side of a boat and are able to see 50 meters downward. The water clearness of Baikal probably concedes only to Crater Lake in Oregon, USA.

Baikal's water, long famous for its spiritual and medicinal qualities, is called "living water." Unlike all other deep lakes of the world where the lower depths are dead, asphyxiated by hydrogen sulfide and other gases, Lake Baikal's deep waters are blanketed in fresh oxygen. It has only been in the past five years that scientists have discovered thermal springs beating up from the bottom of Baikal. The release of hot, oxygenated water from underwater vents mixed by two horizontal currents and by rising and falling vertical currents may explain why the water is alive with aquatic life.

Besides being exceptionally clear and rich with aquatic life, Baikal's water is cold. Overall, the average temperature of the water is +4 C, but varies like many micro climates depending on location and season. The surface temperature in August in the middle of the lake is about 8 to 10 C and along the coastal line, 14 to 16 C. Below the surface, the water temperature plunges. In August, at a depth of 50 meters, the temperature is about 5 to 6 C, even in summertime. In Kultuk Bay, Chivyrkuysky Bay, Proval Bay, Peschanay Bay and the area called the Small Sea, temperatures climb to between 6 and 18 C, and can reach a balmy 20-24 C.

In the winter, Baikal freezes gradually. By the end of October, shallow bays are covered with ice and after the first few months of winter, the entire surface of the lake freezes. The ice on Baikal's surface is comparatively thin, only one meter thick in most places. The melting process begins in the northwestern part of the lake at the end of April before spreading to other parts of the lake.

Many mammals live in the Taiga including the brown bear, elk, moose and deer. Brown bears, the world's largest flesh-eating land mammal and the "Lords of the Taiga," are found throughout the region, and can be spotted along the shoreline. Elk and deer can be seen more readily, and during the winter, country people set up feeding troughs, almost treating them like domestic pets.

Unfortunately, as in many parts of the world, poaching in Russia and around Baikal is a growing problem. During difficult economic times, this is especially with the local population, who hunt for meat as well as for the illegal trade in pelts and skins. The poaching of brown bear, deer, moose, elk and nerpa seal is common. Worldwide, the numbers of many of these animals, including brown bear, grow smaller each year. Those animals that do survive are faced with the problem of habitat destruction, a constant threat to their ability to live and reproduce in the wild.

Lake Baikal is home to the world's only fresh water seal. The mystery of how the Nerpa came to Baikal still baffles scientists. Apart from being a freshwater reservoir, Lake Baikal is hundreds of miles from any other sea or ocean. Most believe that thousands of years ago, the salt water of the Arctic Ocean stretched into the lower reaches of the Yenisey up to the mouth of the Angara. Many scientists agree that the seal belongs to the Tertiary fauna, and most likely migrated to the region during the early stages of the period when the Baikal Depression formed. It is thought that in search for food, the seals gradually migrated deeper into the mainland. There have been years when scientists have counted nearly one hundred thousand nerpa in and around the lake. Valued for their soft, warm pelts and fat, the seals have been hunted for thousands of years. Archeologists have discovered seal hunting weapons in the cave homes of early seal hunters.

Many kinds of fish make Baikal their home, and about 50 are suitable for eating. A delicacy worldwide, the salmon found in Lake Baikal is excellent. While locals use it in many of their favorite dishes, they also enjoy sturgeon, burbot, groundling, oilfish, and bullhead. Pike and perch are easy to catch and very popular.

In addition, grayling and omul are highly recommended. Grayling contains two subspecies, white and black, and many locals prefer the rare white which is said to be larger and tastier. There are three types of Baikal omul inhabiting Baikal: Severobaikalsky, Posolsky and Selenginsky. Omul is also found in other Siberian waters and even in the northern parts of the Yenisey River.

Lake Baikal is home to some interesting, but inedible fish. One in particular, the golomyanka, is one of only a few viviparous fish in the world. The small, transparent golomyanka and its cousin, the gobi, live in the lake's cold temperate zone. Since more than half of the golomyanka consists of fat, the fish easily drifts through the icy water. Twenty-seven species of gobi are unique to the lake and found nowhere else on Earth.

In recent years, human environmental impacts have affected Baikal's fish population, particularly the omul. Lake Baikal's ecosystem was greatly altered by the construction of the Irkutsk Dam. Higher water levels devastated the population of Baikal bullheads, a small fish that serves as is the main source of nourishment for the omul and other large fish. The omul became even smaller, gradually thinner and increasingly infertile, a result of this environmental imbalance. To help mitigate the problem, from 1969-1975 the fishing of omul was prohibited. As the water level could not be altered, there was little more that could be done, and while the population of omul increased, the fish remains noticeably smaller.

There is an enormous number of small crayfish at Lake Baikal, the distant relatives of the oceanic lobster, crab and shrimp. These tiny crayfish, the Baikal epishura, could be considered the "caretakers" of the lake because the devour the tiny waterweeds and bacteria that cloud the water. While the crayfish is only one and one-half millimeters long, in under one square meter of the lake's surface scientists have counted up to three million of these creatures. Over the span of a year, this armada of insatiable crayfish is capable of sweeping clean the top 50 meters of the water three times. Another type of crayfish, the gammarid shrimp (macrohectopus) is twenty times the size of epishura, and destroys practically everything that threatens to pollute the water including dead fish, drowned insects and animals.

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History of Buryatia

The Buryats are a Mongolian people numbering approximately 252,000 (1995 estimate of Buryats in Buryat republic) whose lands are located north of the Russian-Mongolian border near Lake Baikal. Buryatia lies within an area long contested by Russia, China, and (before 1945) Japan. Thus, historically and today, Buryatia has precariously existed amid the competing spheres of influence of more powerful neighbors. In the post-Soviet era, Buryatia has safeguarded its interests by maintaining good relations with Russia, of which it is a constituent part,and by establishing economic and political ties with independent Mongolia and China (through China's "Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region"). Another avenue by which Buryats attempt to mitigate Moscow's control is by cultivating links with a wider Mongolian cultural sphere.

It should also be noted that Buryat Mongols do not only live in Buryatia, but also are significant minorities in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia as well. Mongolia's Dornod, Hentii, Selenge, Tuv, Bulgan, and Huvsgul Aimags, most of which border on Buryatia or Chita Oblast, have significant Buryat Mongol populations. Today many Mongolian Buryats hold important positions in government, business, and in the scholarly community. In Inner Mongolia the Hulun Buir region bordering Dornod Aimag also has a Buryat group called the Shinheeni Buryats, and a Mongolian group called the Dagur, who had fled Buryat lands after they fell under control of the Russians. This article, however, will focus mainly on the Buryat Mongols living within today's Russian Federation.

The latest archaeological evidence shows that humans have been living in Siberia for at least 300,000 years, even before modern humans had developed as a species. Archaeological evidence found in Buryatia and Mongolia include cave sites and petroglyphs of very ancient age. Stone points and blades from 8-15,000 years ago belong to the Microblade Tradition, a technology which was carried by some ancient inhabitants of Buryatia in their migrations all the way to North America. This is evidence that at least some Native Americans may share a common ancestry with the Buryat Mongols.

The earliest peoples who were definitely Mongolian in language and culture lived in the Lake Baikal basin, Angara River valley, and the Tunken valley of the Eastern Sayan Mountains. In Buryat Mongolian mythology these people were referred to as the Burte Chino (Blue Wolf People). In mythology the ancestor was a man named Burte Chino who took as his wife Goa Maral (Beautiful Red Deer), and from their marriage the Mongols, and most especially Chinggis Khan's clan was descended. Burte, or Bured, meant "wolf" in the ancient dialect of the region, and from this word comes the name Buryat. To this day the wolf clan is recognized as a lineage among the Buryat Mongols.

The Burte Chino people's land had the ancient name of Barguzin Tukum, which encompassed the Lake Baikal basin and lands to the west. This is historically the cradle of the Buryat Mongols, and of all Mongolian peoples. In this land the craft of creating bronze was developed at a relatively early period, some scholars believe it developed in southern Siberia even before the technology was adopted in China. Metalsmiths from that time onwards were recognized as being a type of shaman, and the bronze shaman mirrors which they crafted are believed to be of great spiritual power, some of which have been passed down shaman lineages to this day.

The Huns were an early offshoot of these ancient Mongols. They spread southward into the steppes, creating a tribal confederation of warriors that terrorized northern China for centuries, and then later traveled westward to devastate Europe. Hun graves and megalithic monuments are common in Buryatia, Mongolia, and in the Altai region. One of their most well known monuments are the deer stones, decorated with deer bearing the sun in their antlers, which had some now forgotten shamanic use.

After the collapse of the Hun confederation the area which is modern Mongolia was largely overrun by Turkic tribes while the core Mongolian homeland was the Selenge, Kherlen, and Onon River valleys and Lake Baikal, a region which is Buryat Mongolian to this day. For this reason Mongols are called even now the "gurvan goliin Mongolchuud," "Mongols of the three rivers."

Up to the end of the 12th century the people who were to become the Mongolian nation was still loosely organized into tribes that ranged over the forests and steppes of southern Siberia. The Secret History of the Mongols mentions that Kutula was elected khan of the Mongols at a huriltai (tribal council) held in the Onon River valley. The Secret History tells that his elevation to khan was celebrated with the traditional Buryat yohor dance, which lasted all night. However, Kutula's authority did not include the Urianhai and Merkit tribes, Mongolian speaking tribes further to the west.

Temujin, who was to later become Chinggis Khan, was born in the late 12th century, and rose to power after proving himself a worthy warrior and leader. Through a series of wars with the various Mongolian tribes he managed to unite all of the Mongolian speaking peoples under one leader. On the advice of his shaman, Teb Tenger, he took the name Chinggis, which is derived from the word "tengis," which means "ocean," an epithet used for Lake Baikal.

An important point that should be made here is that contrary to what was asserted by historians of the Soviet period, who tried to deny the Mongolian identity of the Buryats, Buryatia was part of the core Mongolian homeland from ancient times. As the Secret History of the Mongols shows, the region known as Buryatia today was important in Mongolian history up to the time of the Great Mongolian Empire.

After the ouster of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty in China the great empire of Chinggis Khan broke up into many smaller khanates. While China took its own historical course, Mongolian dynasties in Persia, Russia, and Turkic Central Asia became Muslim and gradually assimilated with the people that they ruled. In the Mongolian steppe and southern Siberia, however, Mongolian culture and language remained strong, and the Mongolian empire remained in a much reduced form until the 17th century. Throughout this period the region known as Buryatia today remained part of the empire.

Civil war among the noyons (princes) of the Mongols led to the disintegration and fall of the Mongolian empire. The civil war was due to the contention of the Oirat Mongol prince, Galdan Boshigt, for the position of khan. In this split the main contenders were the Oirat and Halh Mongols. The Oirat, who are closer to the Buryats in dialect and culture, live in western Mongolia, while the Halh live in the central part of Mongolia and in the Gobi regions. A long war between the Oirat and Halh tore the Mongolian nation apart at the very time when a new danger was close at hand.

To the east of Mongolia the Manchu people had rapidly grown in power and swept down into China and taken control of the Chinese empire, setting up the Ching Dynasty. Not satisfied with this conquest, they looked west and northward to Mongolia, which was weakened by civil war. The Manchus invaded Mongolia and added much of Mongolia to their empire. Some of the Oirats fled westward into Russia, and were allowed by the Russians to settle in the Volga River valley, where they became the Kalmyks. The princes of northern Mongolia, however, appealed to the Russians for protection.

A Russian protectorate was established over the Buryat Mongols in order to save them from the Manchu invader, making them the only Mongolian people besides the Kalmyks who did not submit to Manchu rule. It should be understood, however, that when the Manchu overran Mongolia they ruled it as a separate political entity, as a Manchu province, and did not annex it to China. In a similar way, Buryat Mongolia was not officially annexed to Russia, and the local princes remained in authority under a Russian protectorate. Buryatia was not fully part of the Russian empire until it became part of the Soviet Union in the 20th century.

The Russian protectorate saved the Buryat Mongols from the Manchus, however their relationship with the Russian Empire was at times fraught with problems. In distant Siberia, far from the imperial centers of power, enforcement of Russian authority fell into the hands of Cossacks who in some cases conducted themselves little better than brigands. They raided Mongolian settlements and terrorized the population to a degree that the Dagurs abandoned their villages in the Onon River valley and resettled in Manchu territory, where they still live today. Large parcels of prime land were expropriated from the Buryats and given to Russian settlers who turned it into farmland. Many of these settlers were exiles from western Russia, some were criminals, but others were religious and political dissidents who did contribute to the culture and educational system of the Buryat lands over time. However, large sections of Buryat territory west of Lake Baikal were seized and the Mongol population of these areas forced to resettle elsewhere. The Buryats did not take this without resistance -- there were two anti-Russian revolts in 1695 and 1696. Another form of resistance took form in shamanism, the worship of gazriin ezen, master spirits of the land and mountains became stronger and reinforced resistance to expropriation.

In regions where Buryats had been converted to Buddhism the Yellow Faith was tolerated, however in areas where shamanism was still strong Russians tried to force conversion to Russian Orthodox Christianity. This Christianization was not successful and at best just drove the shamans undergound while the people observed a nominal form of Christianity while observing shamanism as well. If anything, the attempts at Russianization were weak and sporadic and actually helped to galvanize a feeling of Mongolian national identity.

In the centuries of the Russian protectorate the feudal system of western Russia was never imposed. Most local authority remained in the hands of the taishas (Mongolian chiefs mostly descended from Chinggis Khan) and even a Buryat Cossack regiment was organized in the Selenge region that kept watch over the border with the Manchu Empire. Exiled Russian scholars played an important role in the creation of an educational system and sons of some of the better Buryat families even attended universities. The first prominent scholar of Buryat descent was Dorji Banzarov, who lived in the early 19th century. In his short lifepan of 32 years he distinguished himself as a scholar of Mongolian culture and history. This educated elite was to become important in the political life of the Buryats and Mongols in the early 20th century.

At the beginning of the 20th century Mongolian nationalism began to revive in all Mongolian areas. At first this agitation was met by hostility by Russian authorities, who threatened to destroy Buryat culture through forcible Russianization, but this approach was abandoned as being futile. In Buryatia the leading figures in this movement were Bazar Baraadin, Elbegdorj Rinchino, and Ts. Jamtsarano, who were all educated in Russian universities. The uniting vision of these and other Buryat intellectuals was to re-unite the Mongolian people. During the Russo-Japanese War (1904) the Japanese gave support to pan-Mongolism with the intent of destabilizing Russia. Furthermore, in 1905, during a revolt against tsarist rule, Buryat leaders held a congress in Chita, which demanded self-government for the Buryat Mongols. After the conclusion of that war, the Russian government itself lent support to the pan-Mongolist movement in hope that Mongolian areas to the south in the Manchu Empire would desire to secede and unite with Buryatia to form a Mongol state under Russian hegemony.

Bazar Baraadin advanced the agenda of pan-Mongolism in a very special way. He developed the first alphabet to transcribe the Mongolian language in a way that would better reflect the modern pronunciation of the language. In doing this he hoped to provides means by which Mongols in all regions in which they lived could communicate easily among each other. The Bazar Baraadin alphabet, which uses Roman letters, is still believed by many Mongolian scholars to be the best ever developed for the Mongolian language, and it was used in Buryatia, Outer Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia for almost three decades alongside the less accurate Old Mongolian script.

When civil war erupted in Russia at the end of World War I Buryats largely remained neutral in the conflict. In 1921, however, the "mad baron" Ungern-Sternberg, a White Russian leader, did unite with some Buryats in order to attempt to establish an independent Mongolia including Buryatia. The intellectual elite of Buryatia, however, on the most part did not get involved with his movement, rightly knowing that his domination of Mongolia would be short-lived.

On the other hand, many Buryat intellectuals, most prominently Elbegdorj Rinchino, did ally themselves with Suhbaatar, a Mongolian rebel leader who had the support of the Bolsheviks. In 1921 Ungern-Sternberg was captured and executed, and Suhbaatar and his allies created an independent Mongolian People's Republic in Outer Mongolia. Buryats from Buryatia as well as from northern and eastern Outer Mongolia played an important role in the new government; several of the cabinet posts were occupied by Buryats.

While Buryat intellectuals' dream of an independent Mongolia was realized, it did not yet include their own territory as the unrest in Russia continued. In 1923, however, the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created. For the first time in over two hundred years the Buryats had a measure of independence, although still being under the hegemony of the Communist government in Moscow. The newly created republic, however, did not include many historically Buryat lands in Irkutsk and Chita Oblast which had been expropriated and settled by Russians.

In the 1920's Buryat culture flourished, newspapers and books were published in the Mongolian language. Even though their republic was considered part of the Soviet Union, Mongolian culture was given relatively free rein and relations with Mongolia were close.

Starting in 1929 Stalin imposed collectivization on Mongols as well as on other peoples under Soviet control. People were dispossessed of their farms and herds both in Buryatia and Mongolia. Opposition to collectivization was brutally crushed. Many Buryats fled to Mongolia during this time, but found little support from the Choibalsan regime, which was allied with Stalin. In Mongolia in 1931-1932 the Buddhist clergy and Buryat intellectuals led a revolt against Soviet rule known as the "Shambhala War," but this ultimately failed. Soviet authorities gave relatively mild treatment to the agitators because Japan was once again using pan-Mongolism as a tool to extend its influence in North Asia.

In 1937 the dreams of Mongolian autonomy collapsed during the Stalinist purges. In only a few months most of the Buryat Communist leadership, intelligentsia, and religious leaders were rounded up and slaughtered. Prominent Buryats such as Rinchino, Baraadin, Jamtsarano, Agvan Dorjiev, and many others disappeared in Soviet prisons. Rinchino, faithful ally of the Bolsheviks in Buryatia and Mongolia, was shot after beatings and torture in NKVD custody. It is said that of the over 100 members of the Buryat writer's union a mere handful survived. To this day no one really knows how many Buryats died during the purges. In Mongolia Choibalsan followed Stalin's example, and about 30,000 died, many of whom were also Buryats.

In addition to the purges the Buryat-Mongol Republic was stripped of about half of its land, including the west shore of Lake Baikal, Olkhon Island, Ust-Orda, and Aga. These last two regions were made Buryat autonomous okrugs, similar to reservations, and Buryats in surrounding Russian majority areas were moved into these teritories. In Buryatia itself Stalin brought in large numbers of Russian settlers in order to dilute the Mongolian majority. Mongolian script was banned and all writing in the Mongolian language was only allowed in the Russian Cyrillic script. Buryat religious buildings and sites were largely destroyed and Buddhist and shamanist artifacts were either destroyed or placed in a central storage area for use in the creation of a "Museum of Atheism."

During World War II Buryat soldiers served with distinction in the Red Army, receiving more Hero of the Soviet Union decorations than any other minority group in the USSR. However, the devastation of Russian areas in the west accelerated the migration of Russians into Siberia. In 1948 Soviet authorities made further attempts to Russify Buryats and extinguish their culture. Traditional art forms were banned and it was forbidden to speak of Buryat traditional heroes such as Geser and Chinggis Khan. Control of the educational system was placed in the hands of Russians in Irkutsk. The official history of Buryatia spoke little of pre-protectorate times, asserting that Buryats were not Mongols but had been conquered by Mongolian feudal leaders. A non-standard dialect, Khori Buryat, which is the most dissimilar to standard Mongolian of Buryat dialects became the only acceptable literary language. The idea was to create a fiction of a Buryat nationality that was non-Mongol. Lacking any ties with any other nation, over time the culture seemed fated to die out. For "security reasons" Buryatia became a restricted area within the Soviet Union and access was denied to the region without special permission.

After the death of Stalin Soviet policy toward the Buryats was slow to change. In 1958, as the rift between Russians and Chinese became critical, the name "Mongol" was dropped from the name of the Buryat republic. The reason for this was the support of pan-Mongolism by Mao Zedong, who desired to bring all Mongolian peoples under Chinese hegemony (ironically the Inner Mongolian pan-Mongolists were themselves purged by Mao ten years later in the Cultural Revolution). In 1970 the teaching of Mongolian in Buryat schools was abolished as unnecessary.

In spite of these policies a new generation of Buryat intellectuals who had grown up in the 1950's and who had studied Mongolian before it was dropped from the school curriculum became the backbone of a new national movement. Many of these were from the western part of Buryatia and even from Mongolian areas in Irkutsk and Chita Oblasts. In spite of the risk of being decried as dissidents they boldly wrote poetry in Russian and Mongolian about Mongolian themes or researched and wrote about Mongolian topics. In a time when it was yet impossible to enter politics (most of them did not join the Communist Party) on their people's behalf they played an important role in re-awakening national consciousness. The poets Dondok Ulzituyev, Dashi Dambaev, Lopsan Tapkhaev, and Bayar Dugarov were part of this new generation. In the religious sphere Buddhism was allowed to continue on a small scale at the one sanctioned monastery and Buryat lamas represented the USSR in international peace conferences.

In the period of glasnost Soviet suppression of nationalism loosened and Buryat intellectuals became more bold. For example, in 1989 Bayar Dugarov led a successful movement to re-establish the celebration of the ancient Buryat holiday of Sagaalgan. In the following year he and other Buryat cultural leaders mapped out a 5-year celebration of the culture hero Geser which would involve all Buryat regions. It was a subtle strategy to re-awaken Mongolian consciousness and remind them of the heritage of Chinggis Khan (discussion of whom was still taboo in Russia and Mongolia).

The bloodless toppling of the Communist government in Mongolia in 1990 unleashed Mongolian culture from decades of suppression. Buryat intellectuals participated in the revival of Mongolian culture and were further emboldened to follow Mongolia's example in their own country.

In the fall of 1990, feeling the weakening of Soviet control, the Buryat government issued a declaration of sovereignty, stating that its own laws took precedence over those of the USSR and claiming control of its own natural resources. Buryat intellectuals urged that the republic's name be restored to Buryat Mongolia. A Buryat nationalist party was founded with the goal of independence. In 1991 Buryatia created its own foreign relations ministry and established closer ties with Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, and a Mongolian consulate was opened in the capital, Ulan-Ude, in 1992. An apolitical All-Buryat Cultural Association was established with the purpose of cooperation between all Buryat ethnic areas and the revival of the Mongolian language. It now publishes textbooks for the teaching of adults who were not able to learn Mongolian in school.

After 1990 there was a rapid revival of Buryat shamanism, and the number of shamans increases to this day. Buddhism also revived, and new temples have been built in most major Buryat towns. The teaching of Mongolian has been re-instituted in the schools and writing of poetry, literature, and history about Buryatia in both Mongolian and Russian flourish without ideological controls.

In 1992, however, Buryatia agreed to remain an autonomous republic within the Russian federation. In response to the revival of Buryat nationalism Russian nationalist organizations have also appeared but there is no overt hostility between the two ethnic groups at this time. However, the problem of absentee ownership of many of Buryatia's industries has not been resolved, and a lot of the profits from these businesses go to western Russia rather than enter into the local economy. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union a staggering 93% of Buryatia's citizens now live below the poverty line.

A new Buryat constitution was adopted in 1994 and the first free elections elected Leonid Potapov, a Russian former Communist, as president. While Potapov has at times done much to ensure harmony among the various ethnic and religious groups in Buryatia, at times he has also shown an insensitivity to them as well. In 1998 the presidential election was hard-fought and bitter. Accusations of corruption and other acrimony was abundant, but yet Potapov's opponents were not sufficient to topple him. One accomplishment, however, was the election of Sergei Aidaev, a Buryat, as mayor of the capital city Ulan Ude. While the revival of Buryat culture and language remains strong, and in spite of their historical role as leaders among the Mongols, at this time Buryats have been unable to unite as a strong political force. The cultural revival is also in threat of being derailed because of lack of money in the government and funding for cultural programs is threatened to be cut in 1999. It is indeed a crucial period in Buryat Mongolian history for the Buryats to join together in order to preserve their traditions and control the destiny of their land for the future.

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Sacred Baikal

Uliger, tales, are an important part of oral traditions among the Buryats and other Siberian peoples. In fact they are known as uliger in several Siberian languages as well as in Mongolian. The purpose of these tales are to explain why the world today is the way it is, such as in the myths about Angara and of the evergreen trees. Other uliger, such as the ones about tobacco and alcohol, help convey social values about appropriate behavior. Longer myths, such as those of Geser and Nishan, were important vehicles for the transmission of shamanic traditions. The setting for the telling of these tales was usually around the fire in the winter. Under normal circumstances uliger are only told in the wintertime; if they are told in the summer it may cause winter weather to return. The Geser legends, however, may be told at any time of the year if done in connection with shamanic ritual, for it is believed that it brings shamanic power, good luck, and healing in its telling.

Whether long or short, uliger offer interesting glimpses into the lifeways and thoughts of the Buryats.

Angara, Daughter of Baikal

Baikal, the ezen (master spirit) of the great lake, had 337 daughters. Of all of them by far the most beautiful and intelligent was Angara. She had many suitors, but none of them had pleased her. One day, however, young Yenisey the Brave came as a guest to their ger (traditional dwelling, yurt).

From the first time they saw each other Yenisey and Angara fell in love. In the short time he stayed in Baikal's household Yenisey decided that he would marry Angara, and the two young lovers promised that they would marry but keep their plans secret until Yenisey could come back to discuss marriage with Baikal. Before they parted, Yenisey gave Angara a gift of a white bird.

Only a few days later a prince named Irkut came to visit. He made a great impression on Baikal, and when Irkut offered to marry Angara the father agreed immediately and they started making wedding plans. After Irkut had left Baikal announced his plans to his family and Angara was upset because she was secretly engaged to Yenisey. As soon as she was able to she told the white bird a message to give to Yenisey and let it free so it could carry the message to her lover.

Days passed and there was no sign of Yenisey's return. Indeed he lived in a very distant country. News arrived that Irkut and his brother Akha were on their way from their home in the Sayan Mountains and intended to celebrate a wedding when they arrived.

Angara stole a horse and ran away westward toward the country where Yenisey lived. When her father saw that she was gone, he saw her far off in the distance, riding west. In his fury Baikal grabbed a huge boulder and threw it after her. The rock missed her, landing on the shore of Lake Baikal, where it is now known as Shaman's Rock.

Before Baikal's anger had even died down Irkut and his brother arrived and were surprised to hear of Angara's escape. They turned around and rode west in pursuit of her. After riding for a long distance Irkut's horse collapsed from exhaustion. He told his older brother, Akha, to continue the pursuit. Further to the west, Akha's horse fell down and died. Angara kept on riding, and met up with Yenisey. They married, and Angara never returned to her homeland.

For this reason, the Angara River is the only river flowing out of Baikal, while the 336 rivers of her spinster sisters flow into Baikal. Where Irkut's horse fell the Irkut River flows into the Angara from the Tunken Valley of the Sayan Mountains. Where Akha's horse fell the Akha River flows into the Angara from the Eastern Sayans. Further west, at the place where Angara and Yenesey were reunited, near the border of Tuva, the Angara and Yenisei Rivers merge to form one of the great rivers of Siberia.

Buryat shamanism is renowned for its ancient traditions and legendary shamans through the works of Mircea Eliade, Michael Harner, and others. Buryat and Mongolian shamanism are essentially one and the same, the distinction of Mongol and Buryat comes late in history, for until the latter part of the 17th century present day Buryatia and adjacent Buryat Mongol regions were an integral part of the Mongolian Empire and had been since the time of Chinggis Khan.

The thing most commonly associated with the Buryat-Mongolian culture from a Westerner's standpoint is the tradition of shamanism. No book about shamanism fails to mention Buryat or Mongolian shamanism. It is without a doubt one of the oldest religious and cultural traditions in the world.

So why is shamanism so important to world culture? The simplest answer is that it espouses a view of the world that is vital to man's survival in the future. Perhaps better than almost any other people, Buryats and Mongols have understood the importance of keeping the world in balance and to revere the air, waters, and land. From the traditional Buryat point of view, the world is not a dead place, but vibrantly alive with spirits and souls in every thing and in every place, also that all animals and plants have sentient souls much like ourselves. For that reason respect for the spirits of nature and living things shaped a religion and life ethics that minimizes negative impact on the earth. For that reason also, for the many thousands of years that man has lived in Siberia there was minimal negative impact on the environment until the current time. This is a way of life which is radically different from that of European peoples, whose philosophy considers most of the world to be lacking sentience and useful only for exploitation.

This outlook is the root of all our environmental problems today, whether in Russia, the United States, or in other parts of the world where this essential connection to and respect for Mother Earth has been forgotten. Until humankind remembers this connection we will continue to endanger our own future. It is well known that pollution of the earth, air, and water is the biggest threat to human health today, and this will only become a progressively severe problem unless we take a different course.

Now these words should not be construed as being anti-technology, but a call for a re-considering of how it is used. Indeed, Mongols and Buryats have not traditionally been anti-technology. Rather, their traditional lifestyle adapted to technological change but yet still retained a balance with their own environment. There are three basic ideas in Buryat-Mongol shamanism that are very essential for the future lifestyle of all people:

1. Sustaining balance in the world

2. Reverence for the earth and living things

3. Personal Responsibility

The ideal for living in Mongolian-Buryat shamanism is best described by the word tegsh, which means being in balance. This implies doing things in moderation and also with consideration of the effects of one's actions on others. For instance, one's own personal power is directly related to one's positive and negative actions, and although no human is capable of doing only positive actions, as long as the positive and negative are in balance with each other one can live in health, peace, and safety. When one's actions are too negative one's personal spiritual power will be depleted and one will be susceptible to disease and other dangers. In such cases a shaman would be called to restore balance. From a modern standpoint, the essential meaning of this is to live temperately and conscientiously; keeping negative and positive actions in balance.

Respect for the environment is the most essential for survival into the future. While not all people will share the traditional Buryat view of the spiritual dimension of nature, nevertheless a reverence for the air, rivers, earth, forests, and mountains will transform the current attitude towards the environment that is the root of all our current problems of pollution. Mother Earth and Father Sky have created us and nurtured us for millions of years and deserve our respect. This principle also blends with the idea of balance in that Buryats and Siberian people in general have always used the resources around them in a way that their resources will be renewed and there will not be permanent damage to the environment. This has been encoded in the language of respecting the forest, mountain, and animal spirits, but the underlying principle is very important. These people have traditionally believed that if these resources are taken without thanking the spirits for what they have given, they will not return again. In our own present world, we are challenged to use renewable resources, alternative energy sources, recycle, use appropriate technology, and otherwise apply the high technology which we are developing today in ways that we can develop a new lifestyle in the new millennium which will approximate the balanced relationship with the environment that has been typical of Siberian cultures since the earliest recorded history.

Personal responsibility is the third important aspect of Buryat shamanist philosophy. This is often expressed in the Buryat expression "tenger medne." The ultimate relationship every person has is with Father Heaven, no one stands in between, there are no holy books, no priests, and not even shamans come in between this basic relationship. This means that every person is responsible for one's own actions, and Tenger sees all that is done and is the ultimate judge and shaper of destiny. This is the highest form of religion, the most free, and the most modern. Most people believe that there is a supernatural force, many have their own names for it, but ultimately the relationship between a man and the universe is very personal. This is the very reason why Chinggis Khan in his time tolerated all religions within the great Mongolian Empire. In the past and even now in the present time the divisions between religions have been the cause of war and suffering in many parts of the world. This transcendent view which was held by the "barbarian" Chinggis Khan is very useful for the future as our world becomes ever smaller and people must learn to live in brotherhood and peace. In this modern age we have a dual challenge: at this time we have an information revolution in which information about cultures and history can be spread rapidly and Buryat culture and other cultures may be understood better than in the past. Secondly, our society is becoming global and cosmopolitan, and all nations must live together in peace while preserving those truly unique and valuable things that they individually have preserved from their own ancient traditions. This is true for Russia, the United States, and the world in general.

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