Photo from open sources
With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, the country began planting atheism and, accordingly, the oppression of all healers and sorcerers, in including shamans. Call it a real witch hunt difficult, but people with unusual abilities had to hiding so as not to incur the wrath of the authorities. All alone ceased their activities and, as they say, buried their own talent to the ground, others “went underground” and engaged witchcraft secretly. We will tell you three stories about the Yakut sorcerers who lived in Soviet times.
The arrest of the great shaman
The first case occurred during the Stalinist period in a small village in one of the central regions of Yakutia. Lived there a man who secretly provided fellow countrymen with all kinds of magic services. The villagers whispered that in the old days, when such people there was no need to hide, this master could become truly great the shaman. Gradually, the rumor of a powerful sorcerer flew around and people from neighboring villages began to come to the shaman. Soon about it officials from the regional center found out and, of course, decided take the “crook” for the gills.
Arriving in the village, the NKVD officers broke into the house of a shaman, searched and arrested the landlord. To Yakutsk, the path to which was long, he was taken on horseback. When it began to get dark, one of the guards suddenly noticed that the detainee was missing somewhere, and his the horse goes without a rider. They raised the alarm, began to look for the fugitive, but to no avail. And how could he escape when, firstly, he was in handcuffed, and secondly, he would have surely been spotted getting down with horses?..
We rushed back, by midnight we reached the village where the shaman lived, and found a fugitive in his own house: after a hearty dinner a man slept calmly. Now he was tied hand and foot and put in cart. Around the middle of the road, the guards, who had not descended from the prisoner’s eyes, they gape for a minute, and when they looked at the cart, saw that there was no shaman in her. The guards were frightened, realizing that something unnatural happens, but nothing to do – they had to to return to the village again. And there – the shaman as if nothing had happened sleeping on his trestle bed and even closed the front door, as if awaiting guests.
A photo from open sources
This time the chief enkavedeshnik decided to talk with the sorcerer in private and put pressure on pity: I, they say, a bonded man, me I’ll be put in prison if I don’t follow the order and deliver you to the authorities. The shaman carefully listened to the request and promised to go. voluntarily, without any handcuffs or ropes.
… When they got to the city in the morning, they decided to immediately detained send to jail. However, something amazing happened here. As soon as the shaman entered the courtyard, he began to grow with every step … When a man approached the prison building, his height exceeded five meters, and such a giant simply could not get through the door. Shocked the jailers scattered and were afraid to approach him.
They called a big boss from the NKVD. He cautiously approached to the shaman and said something to him. The sorcerer assumed his former appearance, and the men went inside. It is not known what their conversation was about, however after that the boss ordered the detainee to be released and taken home. They didn’t bother him anymore, and for a long time he helped fellow countrymen his magical art …
How the shaman was offended by the authorities
The second story happened in the same period. In Vilyuisky ulus lived one well-to-do peasant – a “part-time” shaman. When collectivization broke out and many had to choose between a collective farm and prison, this sorcerer spat on everything, transferred his property to collective economy, and he went as a hermit into the forest. He is there built a hut for himself and began hunting, fishing and gathering.
The shaman had a young relative, very attached to him. The guy regularly visited the hermit forest, brought with him alcohol, tobacco, matches, as well as some products and the last news. That’s just the shaman urged him to commit his visits in the morning or afternoon: the rest of the time the sorcerer had business, which extra witnesses were not required.
A photo from open sources
The young man was used to obeying everything, but once he was very late, but I didn’t want to leave a respected relative without fire water, therefore, went to him late in the evening. It was time for the white nights and the guy easily reached the familiar hut. He knocked on the door then he went inside, but the hut was empty. Where could the hermit stock up for the night looking?
The young man left vodka on the table and, going outside, he heard in the forest for quiet voices at home. One of them clearly belonged to the shaman. Guy quietly crept along the wall and began to listen. Spoke mostly hermit, and other voices, unpleasantly high and not very similar on human, every now and then assented to him.
– I never hurt people, so why should I punishment? Have they treated me rightly? – asked shaman.
– Not! – screamed his interlocutors.
The hermit continued to lament:
“They took all my goods and drove them out into the forest, like an old dog.” Here tell me should I tolerate such treatment?
– Not! – amicably answered in response.
– What can I do? Is there a way to get even with offenders and to return everything that rightfully belongs to me?
– There is!
Unbearable, the young man looked out from behind the hut and saw that the shaman sitting on a stump under the trees, and around him some kind of thin crowd dark creatures. Fear was stronger than curiosity, and the guy gave tear. During the next visit, the shaman cordially thanked him for the offering and, winking slyly, said that he liked the vodka to everyone. It’s said that after this the sorcerer did get even with local authorities, but how exactly, the story is silent.
Talking horses
This story from Yakut folklore can be considered humorous. It will be about a certain groom, who in his heyday Communist ideology was very obsessed with its spirit: in particular, in every possible way ridiculed everything that went beyond materialism.
The shaman who lived in the same village repeatedly noticed antics fellow countryman and decided not to teach a fool a lesson, but simply to give him the opportunity to verify their wrongness.
Once, talking to the groom, he suggested that he commit Christmas fortune telling. If after that the skepticism of a man is nowhere will not go away, the shaman promised to renounce his faith and also become materialist.
Baptismal Christmas Eve was approaching when all evil, according to Yakut beliefs, the last time massively visited human dwellings, before burying until next winter. The shaman informed the groom that on the last day of Christmas time it is necessary to hide before dawn near the stall and wait for the night. If the horses find that nearby nobody is there, they will begin to humanly talk and discuss various events that will soon take place in the village. Thus, the groom will receive valuable information about the future.
He, deciding, in turn, to prove the insolvency of views shaman, agreed to an experiment. I waited for the baptismal eve and before sunset hid in a chest, which in advance left in the stable.
A photo from open sources
The night has come. The horses at first habitually stomped, snorted and they waved their tails, and then the leader of the herd hit the floor three times with his hoof, snorted in displeasure … and burst into a stream of perfect abuse, in every possible way swearing his guardian: they say, the groom so-and-so, the bastard and the last reptile, contains us in disgusting conditions and aft saves! .. The rest supported him loudly and also did not hesitate in expressions.
Finally, the groom did not tolerate. Without waiting for the horses to take their souls and begin to talk about the future, he, all red with anger, fell out of his chest and began to beat the wards with shouts: “Oh, you cattle are ungrateful! I do so much for you, and you! ..”
Horses in response to this only neighs indignantly and dodged the whip, as if sincerely perplexed: why did it suddenly the groom what about nothing fell upon them at such a late hour? ..
… They say that since then the materialist groom has suddenly changed, the guy grew wiser, as the shaman himself laughed at him.
Time Shamans of Yakutia
