The Republic of Buryatia is a large country, in southern Siberia that stands between Mongolia and Russia.  It is a very ancient land, the cradle of shamanism, which appeared at the dawn of mankind. Language, history, natural habitat and economy relate the Buryat people to the people of Mongolia.
They have lived in the Siberian steppe and taiga as hunters and pastoral nomads, herding sheep and horses.
The Buryats inhabit three sides of Lake Bajkal, the largest body of fresh water in the world, one mile deep, as well as the sacred island of Olkhon.
In the region around this huge body of water, we find 1700 native species of plants and animals, 1200 of which are unique of this area including a fish called golomjanka, that is viviparous, and the tasty omul that can be bought directly from the fishermen of the lake. The origin of the Buryats goes back to XI-XII centuries, with the fusion of groups of hunters of the forests of the north and groups of nomads of the Altaj. Barga Bator is the legendary head of these people; and his descendants settled in the territory that corresponds to the actual Buryatia. On the shores of lake Bajkal we find the two great ethnic groups of the Echirit and of the Bulagat, on the mountains the ethnic group of the Barguzin and towards Cita the ethnic group of the Aghin. But the supremacy of the Buriats in this territory is short, from the XIII century they fall under the control of Gengis Khan, and in the XVII sec. under the Russian colonization. To arise the greed of the Russian adventurers there was " the soft gold ", that are the most beautiful furs in the world. In fact parallel to the silk road, there was the way of the sable, crossing the southern Siberia to Bisanzio.
However it wasn't until the end of the 19th century since the advent of the Trans-Siberian railroad, that a considerable number of Russians settled in the area, contributing to the adoption of a sedentary, agricultural life-style.
In the 18th century, Buryatia was reached by the spread of Tibetan Buddhism arriving through Mongolia.
After the soviet revolution of 1917, Buryatia was annexed to the Soviet Union.
During the Second World War, the Buryats fought together with the Russian soldiers under the Soviet Red Army. Many legends are told about the Buryat soldiers and how the shamans protected their lives.
Nadia Stepanova told us a story:  "…One of my uncles was sent to war and one day he found himself in the middle of a shelling. The battle raged, everybody died around him and there was a terrible dust that dazzled his sight.... At a certain moment he heard a horse neighing and in front of him a celestial horseman appeared showing him the way. Running in the direction the Spirit had shown, my uncle was safe. From that moment on, the "blue" horseman protected the Buryat division of soldiers who were always safe amidst the worst battles. The voice spread among the whole army: to protect one's life it was necessary to follow the Buryat soldiers..."
 

TRADITION & GODLINESS

The buryat shamans believe in the existence of a pantheon made up of the Eternal Blue Sky and 99 Tengri (Deities) divided in 44 Tengri of the East, spiteful ones, and 55 of the West, benevolent ones. Moreover the Buryats worship the 13 Northern Divinity, the Mother Earth, the Sacred Spirits of the Fire, the local Spirits of the ancestors and Spirits who protect all the natural places like the powerful Spirits of mountains and the Spirits of waters protecting the rivers, the lakes and the seas. The most popular of the deified heroes of the buryat shamanic panthen is Buxa Nojon, worshipped as the father of all the Buryats. Among the Buryats the art to forge the iron goes back to the ancient time and it is tied closely to mythology; in fact one of the most powerful clan is the one of the Darchat, the Blacksmiths. A legend tells that one of the 99 Spirits, Bozintoy, an excellent blacksmith, taught the secrets of forging the iron to the men, by throwing on earth the stone xabtari, that later on became the ritual anvil, where the shamans celebrate all the rituals consacrated to him. He is one of the western deities, of the benevolent ones and until now he is considered the protector of the Blacksmiths. The Buryats celebrate the Taylagan in order to honor the Spirits of the nature. They celebrate these ceremonies in particular periods of the year, for example the rebirth of the life in spring, or to recall the favor of the Deities  or when it is necessary for an individual.
During an important Taylgan, when there is a real necessity, the shamans make a ritual offering of a sheep, a goat or other animals, according to the clan and to the reason why the ceremony is performed.
In ancient times the sacrifice, was the task of the elderly persons in an uneven number from nine to eleven, under the guide of a shaman. The elderly persons, in their role of chiefs of the clan, gave the shaman fermented mare milk to offer to the Deities.
In Buryatia there are eleven main tribes from which all the descending clans of the Buryatian people originated.
The Abzey, the clan of Nadia Stepanova, belongs to the tribe of the Echirit. Spirits that manifest themselves as celestial horses protect them. The Abzey pray to the Gods offering sheep or fish. Three days after the black moon, they are the first clan to be authorized to celebrate rituals.
At the beginning of the rituals, Nadia Stepanova addresses to the celestial horses, her protectors, and therefore every shamans of this ancient land, on the shore of "sacred sea".
 

NADIA STEPANOVA

Nadia Stepanova, Siberianshaman, was born in Buryatia on the shores of Lake BajkaL and since childhood she has been gifted with the capacity of seeing the Spirits and the Gods.
After Stalin's anti religious campaign of the  30's in the Soviet Union, Nadia Stepanova's family, who belonged to a very powerful shamanic clan the "Abzey", denied the existence of her shamanic "gift" and Nadia Stepanova grew up as an atheist, thinking that everyone could "see" as she did.
When the time arrived for her to accept her mission as a shaman, this misunderstanding caused Nadia Stepanova to undergo terrible suffering. A little army of shamans and lamas, in clandestinity, remained close to her, celebrating secret rituals that saved her life over and over again. At the beginning of the
80's, close to madness and severely ill, she accepted to be initiated as a shaman.
Today Nadia Stepanova is the most important woman of Buryatian shamanism. After perestroika, thanks to her special visionary "gift", she was able to guide the shamanic movement in Buryatia and to restore with the help of the Gods, ancient rituals and ceremonies that, for over 70 years, had not been performed. She helped and cured hundreds of people, collaborating with the principal medical institutions of her country.
She is President of the Shamans' Association of Buryatia, member of the Buryatian Board of Religions and she teaches Shamanism at theAcademy of Culture of Ulan Ude.
According to Nadia Stepanova, every ritual, every collective prayer, restores and strengthens the contact between the forces of the Universe and the Sacred Spirit within each individual, allowing each man to get in touch with what he feels most sacred, such as the Buddha, Allah, Jesus.
In the West where most people have lost their connection with their ancestors and with their Protectors, Nadia Stepanova's teachings have been welcomed with great interest.
Most people in the West are not in contact with the spiritual dimension of Nature and ignore the existence of places where powerful energies dwell.
But it hasn't always been this way: along our city streets we can still see ancient "shrines" dedicated to local protectors by our grandfathers.
Our ancestors believed in the existence of angels and saints who protected human beings.
According to Nadia Stepanava we are experiencing very difficult times and this is the reason why the shamans can no longer operate secretly. The time has arrived for them to share their knowledge, to teach how to contact our protectors, but mainly, how to integrate this knowledge in daily life in order to bring clarity and strength to each man,  "...As a shaman I am obligated by the Gods to help people and to better their lives. For this reason I received the capacity of healing and the gift of vision."

CURIOSITY
THE SACRED SEA AND OLCHON ISLAND

The name Siberia  comes from the Mongol siber  ("beautiful", "wonderful","pure") and from the Tartar sibir that it means "sleepy land". The heart of this "beautiful sleepy land" is the lake Bajkal, the most ancient in the world and the most sacred place of Siberia. The lake Bajkal is commonly called, "sea" by the Siberian people because of its great extension but in some way also for the particular “energy" that it transmits. Its rippled waves, its sandy shores, the powerful energy it emanates, remember the impetuous force of the sea, rather than the calm and still water of a lake. It is worshiped by many Siberian tribes as "the sacred sea " and anyone can read his destiny by looking at the surface of its waters. Also the Russians, to whom it inspired several superstitions for its unexpected and capricious storms, observed that " only on the Bajkal in autumn a man learns to pray with the heart". For its magical features it  is recognized as a place of power, where, since the old time, people from all over Siberia, come in pilgrimage. Among the thirteen northern Deities of the buryatian pantheon, there is Ojchon Babaj, whose spirit, with that one of its son the Eagle, lives on Olchon island, on the lake Bajkal. All the siberian shamans know about him, and his dwelling, the shaman's Cliff. An ancient legend says that Ojchon Babaj, a very powerful shaman with great knowledge, married a Buryatian woman and they lived on the island of Olkhon. They had no children, but they raised an eagle. When the shaman had become too old to fetch food for his family, he asked the eagle to help him.  The eagle took care of the old couple for as long as they lived.  Before dying, the old man told to the eagle:  "…Now you are my son. Future generations will honour you and will address their prayers to you, as they will do to me." And in fact, even today when the Buryats pray to the powerful Ojchon Babaj, they never forget his son the Eagle.