“They call out to their dead devils!” Erküüt and the Rejection of Communal Rituals in a Mongol Banner

Abstract

Definitions and models of nomadic-pastoral social structure are foundational to our understanding of historical processes in Mongolian society and between Mongols and neighboring polities. Recently, scholars have criticized older models with new anthropological models and historical evidence, and for the period of Qing rule in Inner Mongolia (1636-1911), identify the banner as the basic unit of social organization. This paper contributes to this scholarship by examining the significance of subversive and alternative rituals in small-scale communities alienated from larger banner communities. The Erküüt (Erkegüd), a small community in Ordos, rejected the religious life of the banner, including ritual forms such as ovoo worship, and were thus excluded from, and stigmatized within, the banner community. Exclusive religious and social practices are found in other communities as well, for example the Qatagin and Darqad of Ordos; however, those groups maintained ritual significance within the banner community because they upheld rituals for the benefit of all Mongols. The significance of ritual in defining communities, particularly sub-banner communities, must be considered an alternative form of community formation and maintenance.