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The Khorchin-Mongols live in south east Inner-Mongolia (Xing'an and Tongliao prefectures) and sporadically in the adjacent Provinces (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning). Shamanism is mostly practiced in two banners -Khuree and Darkhan- in Tongliao prefecture. Some say that there are Khorchin shamans in Jilin province in the Gorlos-Mongol Autonomous County near Songyuan.
In 2008 my wife and I visited these places in an effort to meet Khorchin shamans and make interviews with them. We set out from Qinghai for Huhhot the capital of Inner-Mongolia where we met our Mongolian firends and blissfuly got acquainted with a scholar who had conducted some fieldwork research on shamanism among the Khorchins. He told us that most scholarly activities on Khorchin shamanism had been carried out in Khuree banner, though shamanism he thought was more popular in Darkhan banner. In 2006 in Darkhan, he made a video footage one of the last rituals of an old and famous shaman Seerenchen who died soon after. He told us that Seerenchen had lived in a village called Yaolinmaodu (the vulture's tree in Mongolian) where we can probably find his desciples. He also gave the name of a township (Baolongshan) and the name of a relatively young shaman he had never met, but he knew that he lived there. In Khuree there was only one old shaman he knew of.
First we travelled to Tongliao (The capital of Tongliao prefecture) and than to Baolongshan. The township was two small for a town but it was two big for a village where people would know each other and it'd be easy to find a shaman. It took us two or three days to find the guy. Our new friend in Huhhot warned us that it wouldn't be wise to inquire about shamans from people we don't know because if the aouthorities get wind of strangers on a hunt for shamans they wouldn'd appreciate our efforts on investigating China's minority cultures. After two days of futile quest we gave up to abide by this rule and accosted everyone who looked Mongol, but nobody seemed to know anything of our guy. A girl said that there weren't any shamans in Baolongshan and suggested that we went to the remote steppe where Mongols were still leading a traditional way of nomadic life. There she said we could find shamans. (to be continued)
In 2008 my wife and I visited these places in an effort to meet Khorchin shamans and make interviews with them. We set out from Qinghai for Huhhot the capital of Inner-Mongolia where we met our Mongolian firends and blissfuly got acquainted with a scholar who had conducted some fieldwork research on shamanism among the Khorchins. He told us that most scholarly activities on Khorchin shamanism had been carried out in Khuree banner, though shamanism he thought was more popular in Darkhan banner. In 2006 in Darkhan, he made a video footage one of the last rituals of an old and famous shaman Seerenchen who died soon after. He told us that Seerenchen had lived in a village called Yaolinmaodu (the vulture's tree in Mongolian) where we can probably find his desciples. He also gave the name of a township (Baolongshan) and the name of a relatively young shaman he had never met, but he knew that he lived there. In Khuree there was only one old shaman he knew of.
First we travelled to Tongliao (The capital of Tongliao prefecture) and than to Baolongshan. The township was two small for a town but it was two big for a village where people would know each other and it'd be easy to find a shaman. It took us two or three days to find the guy. Our new friend in Huhhot warned us that it wouldn't be wise to inquire about shamans from people we don't know because if the aouthorities get wind of strangers on a hunt for shamans they wouldn'd appreciate our efforts on investigating China's minority cultures. After two days of futile quest we gave up to abide by this rule and accosted everyone who looked Mongol, but nobody seemed to know anything of our guy. A girl said that there weren't any shamans in Baolongshan and suggested that we went to the remote steppe where Mongols were still leading a traditional way of nomadic life. There she said we could find shamans. (to be continued)
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