Shamanic Ritual Research Articles

Rainmaking: Observed with social systems theory

AbstractThis article examines contemporary efforts to control climate change through the lens of social systems theory, particularly by drawing comparisons to rain dances and shamanic rituals. It argues that modern climate control strategies bear functional similarities to archaic rituals aimed at influencing weather patterns, despite the absence of direct causality. Using Niklas Luhmann's concepts of autopoietic systems and functional equivalence, the article demonstrates that both historical and contemporary approaches to climate influence rely on blame‐shifting mechanisms and the social production of scapegoats, with failure often attributed not to the rituals or solutions themselves but to noncompliance or impurity among participants. The originality of this article lies in its application of social systems theory to link contemporary climate control strategies with ancient rituals, positioning them as functionally equivalent social phenomena. By drawing comparisons between shamanistic practices, corporate consulting, and global climate governance, the article provides a unique lens for understanding that the primary function of modern climate efforts may be to regulate social behaviour rather than achieving concrete natural environmental outcomes.

Tropical Indigenous Queer as Guardians of Tradition: The Bissu of Bugis Society, Indonesia

Bissu means neither a man nor a woman, but a holy person representing all genders. The Bissu are unique to the Bugis society of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Traditional Bugis culture, as told in the ancient La Galigo epic, acknowledges five genders: uruwane (male), makkunrai (female), calabai (male who has female traits), calalai (female who has male traits), and Bissu (all genders). The Bissu have sacred roles in Bugis society. At the royal level, they bridge the relationship between God and king. They are the priestly protectors of the royal heirlooms, without which the kingBissu perform the mappalili ritual as part of rice cultivation. This shamanic ritual, performed during the tropical monsoon season, is to ensure a bountiful harvest. However, the Bissu, and their sacred roles, have faced challenges in modern Indonesia, especially during waves of conservative Islamism. In recent times, Bissu have also received condemnation under the label of LGBTQ. Such actions, although deadly serious, have not had a lasting impact at the local level where the Bissu continue to preserve Bugis culture and traditions. Thus, while LGBTQ groups across Indonesia fight for their rights for social acceptance through legal and political advocacy; the Bissu of Sulawesi, fight for their cultural role as guardians of Indigenous Bugis traditions, highlighting their identity a "the fifth gender". This cultural strategy contributes to practices of queering the tropics.

Shamanistic Rituals to Âşıks Performances: Symbolism of Summoning Spirits

Shamanistic Rituals to Âşıks Performances: Symbolism of Summoning Spirits

Archetype symbols and altered consciousness: a study of shamanic rituals in the context of Jungian psychology.

The alteration of consciousness during shamanic rituals is both a physical and mystical phenomenon. It involves psychological and spiritual experiences. Through ritual practices, shamans can connect with archetype within the collective unconscious, utilizing trance-inducing techniques for "hallucinatory exploration". This study surveyed 75 participants to investigate the impact of prototype symbols in Shamanistic rituals on participants' consciousness states focusing on Jungian psychology's concept of archetype. The results indicate that archetype symbols in shamanic rituals can significantly influence participants' conscious state, leading them to experience a conscious dissolution of the self. Furthermore, archetype symbols have different effects at the stages of consciousness change. In particular, during the "Visionary Restructuralization" stage, archetype symbols, such as patterns, masks, totems and music, brought participants' consciousness to a peak and caused significant changes to it. These findings suggest that the metaphoric function of archetype symbols plays a crucial role in rituals. Archetype symbols connect the individual to the collective unconscious through visual images and symbolic imagery. They prompt the participants to experience emotional resonances that transcend individual experiences and affect their state of consciousness.

Religious Anthropological Analysis of Unnatural Rituals: An Example from Northeastern Shamanic Culture

This paper discusses and introduces shamanic culture in Northeast China First, this article will show the steps and equipment used in common shamanic rituals, and introduce what shamanic worship is and its influence in Northeast China. It will also analyze the scientific principles of natural rituals as they manifest therein. This article will also explain why it is effective in some cases, why this ritual is not a substitute for formal medical care and the influence of shamanic culture on modern culture in Northeast China. Finally, this article will discuss how to preserve and pass on the positive cultural influences of shamanic rituals and discard the cultural influences that come with them.

Shaman Pots, Sympathetic Magic, and Spinning Souls among the Medio Period Casas Grandes: Altered States of Consciousness in Other-than-Human Persons

Medio Period (AD 1200 to 1450) Casas Grandes shamans used tobacco and possibly other entheogens to initiate trance states that allowed their spirits to travel across the cosmos. These trance experiences involved a sense of vertigo and soul flight that is cross-culturally common and occurs with tobacco-based nicotine intoxication. The Medio Period shamans also relied on and interacted with other-than-human persons during their travels, including macaw- and serpent-linked deities, as well as animated objects designed to participate in their shamanic journeys. The animated objects included Playas Red and Chihuahuan Polychrome pottery effigies of humans, macaws, and snakes with shamanic themes that represented the spirit world. I propose these pots were animate “pot-people” created for shamanic rituals. They were created with unusual designs including painted images and incised patterns that emphasized the spinning/vertigo that was central to the shamans’ soul flight experience. In some cases, the pots were literally spun, as evidenced by the distinctive wear patterns on their bases. The shamanic designs on the pots that reflected the upper and lower worlds, the depiction of spinning in the pottery decorations, and the literal spinning of some pots reflected the sympathetic and mimetic magic that linked them to the spirit world. They were imbued with the liminal nature of the creatures they depicted, and the symbolic and occasional literal emphasis on spinning would allow them to enter into a shamanic trance in a manner similar to their human counterparts. They, thus, were designed to enter into ASC in a manner that paralleled their human counterparts.

Memory Politics of Mass Graves and Commemoration: Korea’s Cheju April 3rd Incident

This article enquires into questions of state violence, cultural trauma, commemoration, and memory politics with respect to the Cheju April 3rd Incident or “the 4.3” (1947-1954), which is regarded as the precursor of the Korean War. After the Special Law for Investigation of the Truth about the Cheju April 3 Incident was established in 2000 by the government, “the 4.3” was officially recognized as a case of state violence and civilian massacres. Due to long-term enforced silence and suppression of “the 4.3 memory,” however, the divergence between state memory and local individuated memory has created conflict over the identity of the victims of mass killing, the commemoration of the event, and the complex politics of postmemory. Drawing on Hirsch’s concept of “postmemory” (the type of inter-generational memory that mediates the past memory in its affective force), this paper explores the way in which this divergence is mediated in commemoration rituals of ancestor worship and reburial of dead bodies exhumed from mass graves. As material evidence of mass killing and its affective presence, the remains “animate” political action for moral judgement about responsibility for massacres. Placing the dead in a proper family tomb or public enshrinement hall shared with other mass dead in the 4.3 Peace Park becomes the most significant concerns of the bereaved families. It shows how state involvement in the management of remains and ancestral veneration custom continues to exert an influence on the surviving families of the dead as well as the victims of the 4.3. In opposition to the structural state intervention, there persisted a community action that continually repaired the loss of social relations and restored communal history through creating the children’s collective grave and family cemetery and inventing island-wide shamanic rituals in the public sphere. In this article, we witness the community of death and loss, which is newly formed through cultural trauma and restorative justice in the post-atrocity era.

Рассказ А. И. Макаровой-Мирской «Камланье»: историко-литературный комментарий

The paper presents the first examination of the sources of a shamanic ritual storyline in the short story “Kamlan’e” (Shamanic séance/ritual) by A. I. Makarova-Mirskaya published in the collection “Altayskie rasskazy” (Altai stories) in 1912. The writer fictionalizes the ethnographic material and integrates it into the literary plot frame of “a child watching a shaman’s kamlan’e from a hiding place.” The main character is an Altai boy brought to the shaman by his parents. The young boy observes a sacrificial act during his first experience of a shamanic ritual. Horrified by this experience, he runs away, gets lost, and eventually finds refuge with a family of Russian Orthodox settlers. When the parents find the child, he does not want to see the kamas; he wants them to leave Altai. Thus, the story features both psychologism and criticism of shamanic rituals, combined with a detailed ethnographic depiction of the performance. The narration includes a passage in the Altai language: a speech of the shaman during the various stages of the ritual, each commented on and explained. The depiction of the shamanic ceremony aligns with the accounts published in the Tomsk periodical press in 1869 and 1890. The primary sources for all those texts were the notes of V. I. Verbitsky, published in 1893 as a book titled “Altayskie inorodtsy” (Altai aliens). It is worth mentioning that the book, being addressed to children, was intended to be both educational and highly moral.

한국 무속에서 읽어낸 그로토프스키의 세속적 신성

This study explores the convergence of Jergy Grotowski's ‘Secular sacrum in the theatre’ and Korean Muism(Korean Shamanism)’s shamanic rituals in the context of secular spirituality. Grotowski advocates for the theatrical stage as a sacred space, breaking barriers for genuine inner exploration, with the ‘holy actor’ crucial for manifesting secular spirituality. Drawing parallels, Muism’s shamans(mudang) embody the ‘holy actor’ through acts like ‘self-sacrifice’ and ‘emptying oneself’, seen in rituals such as the initiation ceremony(Naerim Gut). The shaman, bridging the divine and human realms, seeks to heal through spiritual power in a sacred space. Embedded in Korean culture, Gut rituals serve as a pillar of secular spirituality, transforming the worldly into the sacred. The shaman(mudang), a key practitioner, orchestrates these spiritual rituals, playing a central role in communal life.

Psychedelia: The interplay of music and psychedelics.

Music and psychedelics have been intertwined throughout the existence of Homo sapiens, from the early shamanic rituals of the Americas and Africa to the modern use of psychedelic-assisted therapy for a variety of mental health conditions. Across such settings, music has been highly prized for its ability to guide the psychedelic experience. Here, we examine the interplay between music and psychedelics, starting by describing their association with the brain's functional hierarchy that is relied upon for music perception and its psychedelic-induced manipulation, as well as an exploration of the limited research on their mechanistic neural overlap. We explore music's role in Western psychedelic therapy and the use of music in indigenous psychedelic rituals, with a specific focus on ayahuasca and the Santo Daime Church. Furthermore, we explore work relating to the evolution and onset of music and psychedelic use. Finally, we consider music's potential to lead to altered states of consciousness in the absence of psychedelics as well as the development of psychedelic music. Here, we provide an overview of several perspectives on the interaction between psychedelic use and music-a topic with growing interest given increasing excitement relating to the therapeutic efficacy of psychedelic interventions.

Study of Shamanic Witchcraft (Santet) Culture in the Indonesian Archipelago

Various ethnic groups in Sumatra also possess shamanic traditions that involve traditional rites and the involvement of shamans or individuals with specialized skills in countering black magic. Each of these ethnic groups possesses distinct practices and beliefs. The Batak tribe has diverse ethnic subgroups, including Toba Batak, Karo, Mandailing, and others. Within Batak culture, there exist shamanistic rituals, and individuals who perform these rituals are referred to as "datu" or "Batak shamans." The shaman has a crucial function in upholding social and spiritual equilibrium within society. They possess the ability to retaliate against dark sorcery or provide healing for ailments through their expertise and spiritual wisdom. The Minangkabau tribe upholds robust traditional customs, which encompass shamanic rituals associated with the veneration of ancestors and nature deities. Within Minangkabau society, there exist individuals known as "bundo kanduang" who possess specialized expertise in countering the effects of black magic and healing ailments by traditional means. The Bukit Barisan tribe is an indigenous population dispersed over the Bukit Barisan region, encompassing a significant portion of Sumatra Island. Their religious system encompasses shamanic ideologies and rituals that revolve around the veneration of nature spirits and ancestral figures. Shamans, or spiritual leaders, play a crucial role in upholding social and spiritual equilibrium within their communities. It is crucial to bear in mind that these shamanic rituals exhibit variations among different ethnic groups and subgroups in Sumatra. Moreover, the impact of religions like Islam and Christianity has also had an influence on certain shamanic activities within these communities. Shamanic practices encompass a range of functions, including customary rituals and endeavors to address societal and metaphysical discord. Gaining insight into this cultural legacy and shamanistic customs enables us to value the cultural variety in Indonesia and the ongoing evolution and adjustment of various cultures in response to changing circumstances.

Heavenly-born characters in the published myths of Verbitsky: the words Tyanar and Tangara

This article discusses Altai myths with the mention of the name of the character Tyanar,published in the work “Altai aliens” by Vasily Verbitsky. However, in order to clarify the primordial characterof the Tyanar in the Altai myths, we find out the history of the recording of myths by Verbitsky, and analyzethe myths about celestial characters. For the same purpose, we find out other Altai mythological storiesabout the messengers of the heavenly world in the Altai cosmogony and compare them with the Yakut storiesin which the character Tanara is present. The article traces the cult of Heaven in the Sakha (Yakutia) in termsof comparative and shamanic ritual with the poetry of Altai, Khakassia, Tuva and Buryat. We analyzedsimilar terms for the concept of Heaven and destinations that symbolize the worship of heaven. The authorbelieves that the cult of Heaven in the Sakha (Yakut) kept the general typological features. It manifests itselfin ritual and ceremonial complex of Ysyakh festival. Sky personified Urduk Ajyylar ‘Supreme Deity’, onpresentation of the Yakuts, living in different layers of heaven.

Kazak ve Kırgızlarda Bakşılığın Yadigârı Tabiplik

Kazak ve Kırgızlarda bakşıların yadigârı olan tabipler varlıklarını devam ettirmek için İslam inanışına uygun şekil alarak kendilerini topluma kabul ettirmiş ve Şamanizm’in izlerini daha çok geleneksel yönüyle günümüze kadar taşımışlardır. Günümüzde kendilerini tabip olarak adlandıran bakşılar, ritüellerine başlarken yardımcı cinleriyle beraber Allah’tan medet umarlar. Bu durum İslam’ın etkisiyle Şamanik ritüellerin içeriğinin değiştiğinin göstergesidir. Çalışmanın amacı İslam dinini kabul etmelerine rağmen Kazak ve Kırgızların günümüzde de Şamanizm’in kalıntılarını yoğun olarak hayatlarında barındırdıklarını ortaya koymak ve bunun nedenlerini irdelemektir. Ayrıca bağımsızlık sonrası Kazakistan ve Kırgızistan’da popülerleşen ve günümüzde de devam eden tabipliği ve uyguladıkları pratikleri analiz etmektir. Kazak ve Kırgız tabiplerinin tabip olma şartları, ata kökeni, yardımcı cinleriyle ilişkisi, hastayı muayene etme yöntemleri ile seansları, araçları, toplumun tabiplere karşı tutumu, hastaların gidiş sebepleri, başvuranların memnuniyeti, bu çalışmanın odak konusudur. Çalışma günümüzde tabipliği meslek edinen Kazak ve Kırgız tabipleri ve onlara başvuran kişiler örneği üzerinden hazırlanmıştır. Görüşme tekniğinin kullanıldığı bu çalışma, söz konusu bakşılar ve katılımcılar ile yüz yüze, daha az olmakla birlikte telefon aracılığıyla yürütülmüştür. Tıbbi yollarla sıkıntılarını gideremeyen veya geleneği tıbbi bilimlere tercih eden kişilere hizmet veren söz konusu tabiplerin en önemli görevleri hastalara musallat olan kötü cinleri kovarak iyileştirmek, insanlara sorunlarını çözmede yol göstermek ve gelecekten haber vermektir. Ritüel esnasında tabiplerin kullandıkları tedavi araçları hastalığa göre değişmekte ve genellikle bıçak, kamçı, çam ağacı, bozkırda yetişen bitkiler, kırk veya yedi taş, hayvanın aşık ve kürek kemikleridir. Tedavi seansının sayısı ve süresi hastanın durumuna ve hastalığın derecesine bağlıdır. Tabipliğin de atalarından miras kaldığına inanan tabipler, cinlerine ve onlarla iletişim kurma yeteneklerine içtenlikle inanırlar. Ele aldığımız her iki tabip de yardımcı cinlerini rüyalarında sık sık görürler ve onlardan aldığı talimat ve işaretler üzerine işlerini yürütürler. Tedavi esnasında İslami dualar okumayı da ihmal etmezler ve kendilerini dindar Müslüman olarak görürler. Ayrıca Kazak ve Kırgızlarda henüz uzman psikologdan yardım alma alışkanlığı olmadığından söz konusu tabipler aynı zamanda toplumun psikoloğa olan ihtiyacını da gidermektedirler. Sonuç itibariyle derdine derman arayan Kazak ve Kırgızlar kaderlerini bakşı/tabiplerin yardımıyla değiştirebileceklerine inanırlar. Buna çalışmada ele alınan tabiplere Kazak ve Kırgız toplumunun her kısmından eğitimli, eğitimsiz, genç, yaşlı, erkek, kadın demeden başvurması kanıttır. Dolayısıyla bakşılığın yadigârı olan tabiplik gibi geleneksel uygulamalar teknolojinin geliştiği modern dönem ve mekânlarda işlevlerini kaybetmeden günümüzde de canlı bir şekilde sürdürmekte ve yaşatmaktadırlar. Günümüz tabiplerine yönelik Kırgızistan ve Kazakistan devletlerinin herhangi bir baskısı söz konusu değildir, lakin destek de görmezler. Tabipler hem devlet hem de toplum tarafından geleneksel tedavi uzmanları olarak kabul edilirler. Çalışmanın yayımlanması için etik kurul raporu alınmıştır.

The Role of Immersive Arts in Interpreting Traditional Cultural Phenomena

Immersive art is a new form of media art that relies on the theory of stream of consciousness, on the stimulation of various human senses, often using light to achieve a deep psychological and physiological immersion of the audience in a trance-like empathy with the art. From the point of view of technical means it can be divided into virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality and expanded reality. The article analyses the problems of using technical means of immersive art, considers the advantages and disadvantages of its application in various cultural expositions. The questions arising when applying the means of immersive art to traditional culture (in this case to shamanic culture) are considered. The study finds that works of immersive art demonstrate contemporary culture much more often than traditional culture. Using the example of four technical tools in analysing works of immersive art, the author describes the problems that exist at this stage of its application. The aim of the work is to identify and consider the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating traditional meanings into virtual reality. The tasks of the work include: analysing technical means of immersive art, peculiarities of embodiment of traditional meanings in immersive art (on the example of shamanism). The author argues that virtual spaces created by immersive art are currently gravitating towards purely sensory experience and are not able to carry information about the connotation of meanings. In the process of creating works of immersive art, artists have their own understanding of shamanic culture and cannot reproduce shamanic rituals, so there is a problem of inability to interpret the cultural connotation and show the depth of the rich traditional shamanic culture.

The Tuvan Shamanism and Its Features

Abstract We aim to study the tuvan shamansm and to reveal its specific features of shamanism of the Tuvan ethnic group in Mongolia and collected materials for our study during field work by interviewing, taking pictures, video and audio records. As an expected result of our study, we come to gain essential knowledge and records on ethnolinguistic, cultural issues, customs, and current status of religion /shamanism/ for the ethnic minority. The tuvans still retain such important components of ethnicity as their native language, their ancient religion-shamanism, and some features of their traditional culture, which identify them as Tuvans. Today the Tuvan shamanism has been studied less than those of the other ethnic groups in Mongolia. Many researchers have studied the Tuvan shamanism as it has been keeping its nature and shamanic rituals for the centuries as if their ancestors did. By studying the tuvan shamansm, researchers and other people gain a deeper understanding the culture and language of the ethnic minority – tuvans living in different parts of Mongolia and speak the Tuvan language as their native tongue.

Sámi Literature in Norwegian Language Arts Textbooks

Sámi Literature in Norwegian Language Arts Textbooks

Sable in the traditional culture of the Buryats

The work is aimed at identifying the image of the sable in the traditional worldview and rituals of the Buryats. The chronological boundaries of the study are determined by the time of functioning and translation of the com-plex of traditional beliefs and rituals among the Buryats — the end of the 19th — middle of the 20th century. Geo-graphically, the study is focused on the Baikal region, which encompasses the ethnic Buryatia. Linguistic, folklore and ethnographic sources have been used for this research. Comparison-collation and structural-semiotic meth-ods have been used to explore the research topic. As a result of assessing the utilitarian value of the sable, it has been determined that the animal's fur was used in sewing winter outerwear and hats, and its meat was occasion-ally eaten, as well as applied in folk and veterinary medicine. The all-Mongolian origin of the term for sable, and its gender nominations, is proved. It is assumed that this predator could be revered as a totem by some of the ancestors of the Buryats of the pre-Baikal clans. It has been found that in the traditional Buryat culture, the image of sable was ambiguous. In the traditional views of the Buryats, sable was endowed with a heavenly nature. It acted as a female symbol. At the same time, a negative characteristic of this fur-bearing animal has been deter-mined: it was associated with the chthonic world. In the traditional family ritual of the Buryats, a sable fetish was associ-ated with the image of this fur-bearing animal, which performed a protective function for children and represented a female image. The sable skin was an attribute of the shaman: for some black shamans, it represented the emblem of the clan. Furthermore, in the shamanic ritual of the Buryats, a fetish, embodying the shaman's spirit-assistant, was as-sociated with this animal. In shamanic poetics, the soul of a deceased shaman turned into a sable; this predatory animal was endowed with the function of a shaman's transport in his mystical travels to other worlds.

The Cuckoo Image in the Buryats Traditional Concepts and Rituals

Purpose. The study is devoted to identifying the image of the cuckoo in the Buryats mythological ideas and traditional rituals.Results. In the first part of the work, a general description of the cuckoo image is given based on the vocabulary and small genres of the buryat folklore. It was found that the Buryats particularly noted the voice and physical dexterity of this bird from its other biological features. It was also associated with such a negative trait of a person as idle talk.The second part of the study examines the Buryats mythological ideas about the cuckoo. It was found out that the cuckoo appears in the Buryat epic as a sacred bird, a conductor of the celestials will. It has a feminine origin: women are believed to turn into this bird after death as a punishment for easy virtue and committing suicide. The cuckoo image is also associated with the motif of werewolf, ideas about the evergreen needles acquisition by larch trees and the milk wine invention. In the Buryat epic, this bird often acts as a bearer of knowledge about the past and a wealth giver. The dual nature of the magical effect of the cuckoo’s voice was revealed: on the one hand, it can be beneficial for man and nature, on the other hand, it can destroy a person. The negative features of the cuckoo image are associated with the symbolism of death, which is reflected in folk signs, in particular in the superstition about the cuckoo ability to predict a person’s life expectancy.The third part of the article highlights the cuckoo image in the Buryats shamanic ritual. It has been established that it was localized in the shamanic rite of the Aghin Buryats, probably being a relic of totemism.Conclusion. The study shows that the cuckoo image in the mythological ideas of the Buryats is very ambiguous. This bird was revered as a sacred feathered. It personified the feminine principle. The cuckoo was characterized by solar and celestial symbolism, in addition it acted as a fertility symbol, which was manifested in the correlation of the image with nature rhythms and renewal. This bird was associated with sacred trees (the shamanic Mother Tree and the World Tree). At the same time, the image of the cuckoo also had negative characteristics, primarily because it was closely associated with ideas about death.The study shows that some traditional ideas of the Buryats about this bird find parallels with the mythological concepts of other peoples of Eurasia, which is explained by their universality or typological identity and, probably, intercultural contacts that took place in the past.

The possibility of using psychotherapeutic elements of traditional Chinese drama in modern theatrical culture

The article is devoted to the study of the history of theatrical therapy in the no-si ritual drama. It is shown that, in general, the ritual elements of the no-si drama can be used in modern drama therapy. In addition, dramatic therapy, which is implied by the author in this article, is somewhat different from the modern concept of psychodrama, since it covers large areas of the human psyche. The author believes that it is not necessary to completely ignore this complex area of human culture, because regardless of function or form, dramatic therapy is closely related to the shamanic ritual of healing. The formation of the Chinese national drama took place in the context of the historical development of China. Having originated in the most ancient forms of shamanic rituals, the theatrical performance has evolved into a unique stage genre. Along with other earliest theatrical forms such as ancient Greek theater and ancient Indian drama, Chinese opera originated several centuries before our era, but unlike them it has survived to this day almost unchanged. Now Chinese traditional opera occupies an important place in the list of intangible heritage not only of China itself, but also of the whole world. One of the most important milestones in the development of theatrical art in China was the ritual drama "no-si", which today the ritual drama no-si in China is called a real "living fossil", because it is the oldest cultural form that has come down to us through the centuries. Archaic religious rituals, reflected in modern theatrical performances, testify to the mixing and syncretization of various religious traditions, including no-rituals and no-si drama, and modernity. The current generation is successfully modernizing the tradition of its ancestors in accordance with the times, preserving it in the centuries-old cultural memory of its people.

Communal sacrifice in the ritual space of the Eastern Khanty

The communal sacrifice myr (‘all people’, ‘people gathering’) of the Eastern Khanty living in the basins of the Bolshoy Yugan, Agan, Trom’egan, Pim, Lyamin, and Demyanka Rivers (the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the north of Tyumen Oblast) is studied. The work is based on the field materials of the author collected in 2002–2017, as well as on other investigations and previously published sources. The aim of the paper is the study of the role of the communal sacrifice in the worldview and ritual space of the Eastern Khanty. The methodological basis of the research stems from the theoretical developments of ritual by V. Turner (1983) and gift-exchange by M. Mauss (2011). The concept of “principal ritual” by A.K. Baiburin (1993) has been used in this work. The communal sacrifice myr is the most attended by the number of participants and longest by time ritual of the Eastern Khanty. Within the myr, the most extensive interaction between the world of humans and the world of deities of the Eastern Khanty happens. The structure of the myr includes sacrificial rituals devoted to the deities of the whole pantheon of the Easten Khanty, as well as shamanistic rituals and traditional fortunetel-ling. During the myr, decisions are taken with regard to the most important problems of the community life, whose implementation requires not only human effort but also ‘divine support’. In this paper, the modern boundaries and frequency of conducting the communal sacrifice among the Eastern Khanty are identified. The social and sex-age composition of the participants in the ritual are characterized. The origins and reasons of the ritual performance are considered. In its symbolic aspect, the myr performs the functions of reloading the interrelations between the world of humans and the world of deities in the time of a crisis. Such reloading, alongside sacrifices and gifts to the gods, includes invoking the theme of the primordial genesis of the Khanty’s cosmos — a traditional ceremony of setting fire to the ritual pyre by rubbing. In the course of the research, it has been found that the communal sacrifice corresponds with the concept of gift-exchange of M. Mauss, contains the features of reciprocation, and plays the role of a principal ritual of the Eastern Khanty culture.