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From Hare Skin to Silk Scrap: The Origin and Evolution of the Symbolic Design of Traditional Buryat Ritual Practices
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.1.116-124
Abstract
This study focuses on the practical and ritual meaning of scraps of fabric in traditional Buryat culture. The “textile theme” provides a link between the archaic hunting tradition and the rites of nomadic herders belonging to the Buddhist world. Scraps of fabric were common attributes of shamanic and Buddhist rites. The symbolic, magical, and social functions of those artifacts are assessed. Scraps of fabric, or their analogs, were used as gifts or offerings to shamanic and Buddhist deities and spirits. In wedding rites, they symbolized family relations established by marriage. Some of their magical functions were used in esoteric healing rites and in those relating to life and calendar cycles. Specifically Buryat symbolism evidenced by local Buddhist temples is described. The origin of scraps of fabric in traditional Buryat culture is reconstructed. Parallels in their symbolic meaning and functions among the Mongolian, Turkic, and Tungus-Manchu traditions attest to wide-ranging historical, cultural, and linguistic contacts between Buryats (Mongols), Turks, and Tungus-Manchu peoples of Central and North Asia.
Supporting agencies: This study was carried out under the state assignment of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia; Project No. 126020616724-3 “Archaeological Cultures and Ethnic Communities in the Dynamics of Social and Cultural Processes in the Inner Asia”.
About the Author
M. M. Sodnompilova
Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Buryat Scientific Center, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Leading Researcher, Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Buryat Scientific Center, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Sakhyanovoy 6, Ulan-Ude, 670047
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For citations:
Sodnompilova M.M. From Hare Skin to Silk Scrap: The Origin and Evolution of the Symbolic Design of Traditional Buryat Ritual Practices. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2026;54(1):116-124. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.1.116-124
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