The Image of a Horse in the Shamanic Attributes of the Khakas (Late 19th to Mid-20th Century)

Abstract

Horse is a domestic animal of great importance in the economic life and spiritual culture of the Khakas, in particular, in shamanism. In the Khakas ethnography, the question of the meaning of the horse in the ritual practice of the shamans remains little studied. Due to this, the purpose of this article is to characterize the image of a horse in the shamanic attributes of the Khakas. The chronological framework of the work covers the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. The choice of such time limits is determined by the state of the database of sources on the research topic. The main sources are ethnographic and folklore materials. The work is based on the methodological principle of historicism. Historical and ethnographic methods are used: relict and semantic analysis. In the course of the study, it was determined that the horse and its image had one of the main places in the attributes of the Khakas shamans. In particular, the image of this animal was presented in the key cult items, such as a tambourine (tyyr), a rod (orba), and a costume (hamdykh/hamnyg kip). It was found out that, in the traditional beliefs of shamanists, the image of a horse was endowed with a special aura of sacredness. It was associated with the idea of a chula — the soul of a shaman in the guise of a horse. It was revealed that the shaman’s tambourine, covered with the skin of this ungulate, symbolized the mount on which kam traveled during his mysteries. It is shown that the ritual use of the tambourine by the shaman was preceded by a sacred act of its revival and introduction into the ritual sphere. It was determined that it was customary to depict horses and horsemen on tambourines, who personified the shaman’s spirit assistants and had a significant role in his ritual practice. It is highlighted that the horse symbolism was found on shamanic rods in the form of a protoma. During the shamanistic rituals, it was identified with a mystical steed. It was revealed that the shamanic costume also included elements associated with the image of a horse: bells, metal rattles and horse hair, which performed an auxiliary function in the process of shamanic rituals.