To the question about Blacksmiths cult in Barguzinsky and Kurumkansky regions

The peculiarities of the blacksmiths cult of Barguzin and Kurumkan buryats that live in the north of the Republic of Buryatia are considered in the present article. Ceremonies and traditions that are connected with this cult are preserved in Barguzinsky and Kurumkanskyi regions in the most archaic way. Blacksmiths cult of hengelder and galzud clans that used to live in the pre-Baikal region where one of the biggest blacksmiths roots was located is analyzed. In the present time we can observe the peoples' efforts to reestablish early religious believes, traditions, and ceremonies. In connection with it their interest to clan's blacksmiths cult is raised. In the article the author also uses her own field materials that include legends about the blacksmiths of the hengelder clan. Due to the remoteness and lack of the qualitative transport communications in Barguzinsky and Kurumkansky regions rituals and traditions of blacksmiths cult are preserved there in the most original way. As far as the north of Buryatia is inhabited primarily by the clans that came from pre-Baikal region where shamanism used to be the dominant belief it also impacted on the formation of their blacksmiths cult. However blacksmiths clans differentiated themselves from shamans and their attendance of blacksmiths ceremonies is prohibited. Meanwhile, in the end of the XVIII - in the beginning of the XIX centuries Buddhism started penetrating into Barguzinsky valley and it also made influence on the cult. The deepest influence of Buddhism was made on galzud clan which belongs to khori-buryats tribes. At the same time it is possible to observe many shamanistic elements in the traditions of hengelder clan which belongs to Ekhirits tribe. Another interesting problem that is raised in the article is the origin of the blacksmith differentiation into white and black blacksmiths. Their difference is considered on the example of the two blacksmiths clans: hengelder and galzud. As a result of their comparison and analysis we came to a conclusion that such a classification is most likely made after shamanism influence where we can also discover similar categorization. White blacksmiths are mostly jewelers (hengelder) and another clan galzud that used to deal with iron materials belongs to black blacksmiths. To sum up, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that all these peculiarities form a unique and a holistic phenomenon that is called as the blacksmiths cult in Barguzinsky valley where buddhism, shamanism and early religious believes such as a fire cult are mixed. From this point of view renewal of the traditional believes in Barguzinsky and Kurum-kansky regions is a very interesting research object because it helps us to reveal the ancient elements of Buryats early religious believes.

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