The Mongolian people do use the word Tengerism for "Shamanism", for that is
their word for it in
their language.
But since the Altaic language family group is subdivided into 3 major groups, that of Mongolic, Tungusic and Turkic with even further subdivisions; - with whom do the Buryats in Ulan Ude consider as having close cultural and ethnic ties to practice their particular form of Tengerism with, within the "Circle of Tengerism" (as you put it Andreas).
Just whom do the Buryats call "us", and do they even use the "forbidden-us-word" in this regard, I do not know, I am not Buryat. That is
t-h-e-i-r business ! Not mine. I do not make up nor police their rules, as to what choice of wording should or shouldn't be used by the "real" Buryats.
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/march/AltaicLanguageFamily.html(And I am avoiding "studying" Sarangerel's posts here at this moment).
But. The logo for "Tengerism" used on the net site is a symbol, that I can't think of
any Siberian descendant, who is in touch with his or her cultural spiritual heritage, wouldn't recognize, and I do mean the meaning of the word to
r-e-c-o-g-n-i-z-e. http://www.tengerism.orgBut then again, maybe there are, I just cannot think of any who wouldn't or couldn't.
And sometimes things do not neatly follow language and ethnicity closeness either. The very little that I know of Yakuts (who are Altaic), the amount of "expertise" they have proven in knowing the Finno-Ugric traditions takes one back and makes you listen what they have got to say about us. And many of the words Yakuts use to describe the same "phenomenon" Finno-Ugrics do, makes you smile from ear to ear.
Therefore more so than with the Buryats, there is something special that Yakuts have in common with Finno-Ugrics, but I cannot tell you more, but thanks for the roundabout reminder, I've been meaning to learn more about this.
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I never came to Australia to
"study" Aboriginal people nor to
"gain indigenous knowledge"; - that kind of thought never even entered my head ! It was just that when through life's twists and turns I came to know Aboriginal people and then ended up becoming a participating person within a certain community, that I realized just how much of myself was reflected in the indigenous folk here, so much so that at one point I couldn't see myself apart, and nobody had the heart to tell me otherwise either. Bless their hearts !
When that particular tribe started to take steps to reconnect and revive their specific culture and heritage, I was asked to join, but that was the time I left, and it tore my heart out, but now I understand, looking back on it, that I had to leave and in turn take steps to reconnect and remember my own cultural past and heritage.
Then. Living elsewhere, after the speech
Paul Keating gave in
Redfern, the political climate was such, that the truth of
"White Australia's Black History" could finally be told.
http://www.australianpolitics.com/executive/keating/92-12-10redfern-speech.shtmlAfter that Aboriginal Elders and Educators got together and compiled a study course in conjunction with Government approval to do just that, so that people, who are not Australian Aborigines, but who do work dealing with public would at least get their facts right and interpret the history and culture according to Aboriginal wishes.
Because I worked in an Environmental Centre as an information person, and we worked in affiliation with the local Aboriginal group, also displaying the local culture in our "show-room", of course I needed to take that study with the Elders, it was a
"situation-need" type of a situation. So that is how I came to have permission to talk about some of the stuff.
****************
When it comes to a certain Finno-Ugric branch of "Siberian Shamanism", there I do not have restrictions of what I can or cannot speak about.
But let's just say in general, that Westerners cloak "Shamanism" with a kind of "mysticism" it does not have, as though "Shamanism" was something above and beyond and separate from ordinary every-day reality. From my personal upbringing point of view, on the very basic grass-roots-level, "entering into a shamanic worldview" is about how you
do relate to ordinary everyday reality.
Westerners, from my point of view relate to ordinary everyday reality differently.
A.R.
