THE REINDEER PEOPLE’S WINTER TRANSHUMANCE

A freezing cold recovers the Taiga, it makes -30°. Snow deadens the sounds. For the Tsaatan, the reindeer herders, the winter is announced very hard. This year it snowed a lot. The reindeers do not find any more food. The wolves are on the prowl. Ganbat who is in charge of the guard of the reindeer herds sent his son Altan to see the famous shaman Tsetesg and ask her what to do. After a shamanic ritual near a sacred « ovoo », the verdict is there : « Tengri, the Spirit of the Heaven, will protect the herd if they overwinter on the other side of the mountain Moorog, which is the land of the Tsaatan people’s ancestors where it snowed less ». It is a kind of a pact between the spirits and the humans for the reindeer herders of Mongolia.

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