Kazakh Shamanism and Ritual-Magical Folklore in the Aspect of Historical Retrospection (Based on the Material of Kobyz and Saryns of Baksy)
G. Omarova
Iasaýı ýnıversıtetіnіń habarshysy April 4, 2024 DOI: 10.47526/2025-1/2664-0686.144 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key points | Argues that the Kazakh baksy's ritual activity demonstrates a functional unity of healing, magic, poetry, and music; that baksylyk existed as a public institution until the early twentieth century; and that the baksy's musical-poetic work occupies a borderline between folklore and oral professionalism, distinguishing Kazakh shamanism from other Turkic-Mongolian traditions. |
Abstract
The article is devoted to the study of Kazakh shamanism baksylyk, which has very distinctive national features. Baksylyk as a syncretic phenomenon is of great interest not only in domestic ethnography, religious studies and folklore studies, but also in cultural studies, history, philology, art studies. The attention of musicologists to this problem is due to the role of the musical and poetic genre of baksy’s singing (saryn) and the ancient 2-stringed bowed musical instrument kobyz (kylkobyz) in the shamanic’s ritual (baksy ojyny). Based on the available scientific data in the field of Kazakh folklore, ethnography and ethnomusicology, the issues of further study of Kazakh shamanism, ritual and magical folklore, saryns of baksy and Kobyz in historical and cultural perspective are actualized. Conclusions are drawn that: 1) the shaman in his syncretic activity and ritual demonstrates the functional unity of healing (medicine), magic (religion), poetry and music; 2) despite the parallel line of evolution (transformation) of the shaman-baksy type in the Kazakh culture, baksylyk as a public institution existed until the beginning of the twentieth century; 3) the latter, along with other factors of traditional culture, testifies to the “spatial-chronological continuity” (S. Akataev) and the cyclical type of development of nomadism as a system that reproduces the foundations of its material and spiritual culture throughout history; 4) baksy's musical and poetic work is on the borderline of folklore and oral professionalism. This is important for musicology and for philology, history and cultural anthropology, because it allows us to identify some significant differences between Kazakh shamanism in comparison with elements of shamanism in other related Turkic-Mongolian cultures.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond | 2014 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Cognitive Neuroscience, Shamanism and the Rock Art of Native California | 1998 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From Culture to Experience: Shamanism in the Pages of the Soviet Anti-Religious Press | 2020 | Historical analysis | |
| Anthropology, Shamanism, and Alternate Ways of Knowing–Being in the World: One Anthropologist's Journey of Discovery and Transformation | 2010 | Reflective essay or personal narrative |