Ongon

Ongon (Mongolian; plural ongod, Turkish: Ongun, Azerbaijani: Onqon) is a type of spirit in the shamanistic belief system of Mongolia.[1] It is a common term in Turkish and Mongol mythologies. After death, all shamans become shamanic souls, ongod.[2] Idols can be consecrated to them within three years of the shaman's death and can be placed in the home ("home ongon") or in another locale, such as a shelter out in the open ("field ongon").[3] The ongon is also the physical representation of that spirit, made by a shaman, which plays a central part in the ritual that invokes the protection of the spirit.[4] One well-known such spirit is Dayan Deerh.[5]

The ongon is particularly important in black shamanism: the main function of the khar talynkh or black shaman is to bring people into contact with the ongon, whose spirit they call up "while drumming in a trance".[6] In late-nineteenth century Mongolia, according to Otgony Purev, yellow shamanism revered ongon as well, and every three years yellow shamans gathered in Dayan Deerh monastery in Khövsgöl Province to "renew" these ancestral spirits.[7]

Physical representation

Ongod are represented in the physical world in various ways. In the case of the Tuvan shamaness Yamaan, an ancestor spirit is represented in the handle of a drum, a carved figure with a pink head and chest, a black crown, and red eyes and forehead. A wire serves as arms, and on another wire holbogo are suspended to indicate the spirit's earring.[8] Some ongon live on in the place inhabited by the shaman: Agaaryn Khairhan, a mountain in Khövsgöl Province, takes its name from one of the most powerful shamanesses of the Darkhad clan, Agaaryn Khairhan or Bagdan Udgan, who lived on the mountain in the eighteenth century.[9] In present-day Northern Mongolia, specifically the Darkhad Valley, clusters of ongod are found in transitional or liminal locations, such as the mouths of rivers or the borders between taiga and steppe:[10] In Darkhad Valley, the taiga and surrounding mountains are the traditional areas dominated by shamanism, where the steppe is dominated by Buddhism.[11]

Many Darkhad households own talismans, "lineage talismans" (yazguur ongod) or "household talismans" (geriin ongod), that both contain and attract spirits.[12]

References

1. Pedersen 2011, p. xii
2. Pedersen 2011, p. 166
3. Shimamura 2004, p. 546
4. Birtalan 2011
5. Birtalan 2011, p. 26
6. Shimamura 2004, p. 651
7. Shimamura 2004, p. 650
8. Pegg 2001, pp. 127–28
9. Pegg 2001, p. 121
10. Pedersen 2011, p. 167
11. Pedersen 2011, p. 13
12. Pedersen 2011, p. 158

Bibliography

• Birtalan, Ágnes (2011). "The representation of the Mongolian shaman deity Dayan Deerh in invocations and in a Buddhist scroll painting". Études Mongoles & Sibériennes, Centrasiatiques & Tibétaines. 42. doi:10.4000/emscat.1800.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Pedersen, Morten Axel (2011). Not Quite Shamans: Spirit Worlds and Political Lives in Northern Mongolia. Cornell UP. ISBN 9780801476204. Retrieved 14 August 2012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Pegg, Carole (2001). Mongolian Music, Dance, & Oral Narrative: Performing Diverse Identities. U of Washington P. ISBN 9780295981123. Retrieved 13 August 2012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Shimamura, Ippei (2004). "Yellow Shamans (Mongolia)". In Walter, Mariko Namba; Neumann Fridman, Eva Jane (eds.). Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture. 1. ABC-CLIO. pp. 649–651. ISBN 9781576076453. Archived from the original on 2014-07-15.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Зеленин, Дмитрий Константинович (1936). Культ онгонов в Сибири (in Russian). Moskva: Изд-во Академии наук СССР.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)