Here I am in Mongolia and spent a fabulous day in the History Museum.
I combine this with the discussions with our guide, a local man whose family is still rural, nomadic hunters who have a number of animals but these are wild and no cropping. They are hunter gathers with early agricultural development. The original animistic religion was shamanism. This was overturned by Buddhism which was overturned by Communism. 1991 was liberation from communism and it is now a democracy. So the reassurance of both religions together but separate is seen. Religion is voluntary here. Each family in the rural areas has a shaman who is responsible for omens, medicine, religious teaching, theurgy. I can't find a god/goddess but they say it is ancestor worship. The museum has deer stones, 100s of standing stones painted with symbols, deer and sometimes other animals. One has a human face but that is rare.
The shamans seem similar to the mystery cults
they use smoke, perhaps a psychedelic.
they have ecstatic dance
they use music, the bells, tambour, pipes and lute. One pipe is made from the hollowed human thigh bone.
they meet together for ecstatic dances ( ?mass hysteria)
they dress covered up seemingly emulating a god or a demon. Demons are stressed in the work offered by the skulls.
There is clear hierarchy established by dress codes. Tribes are identified by their dress.
This looks like a mystery religion to me. I noted some geographical issues- Mongolia has been related to Russia by proximity- they have cyrillic language and writing, yet are clearly related by proximity and facial features to China. How did they get their cultural influences? Buddhism came via China and India. Animism was either autochtonous or related perhaps to Ancient Near East influences, or via Russia
Does today's culture show us something akin to that in ancient Greece, Egypt and the Near East?
They had some wonderful textiles, silk, wool,, fur and leather from 600 BC. Were there textiles in ancient Greece that have been preserved? Did they embroider them as well, with religious motifs and for religious purposes?
Margarita Gleba Tracing textile cultures of Italy and Greece in the early first millennium BC, Antiquity, 91, 359, 2017, pps 1205-1222.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/642F7FC36D2E140DA6ADFE9BFF663F1B/S0003598X17001442a.pdf/tracing_textile_cultures_of_italy_and_greece_in_the_early_first_millennium_bc.pdf
Yes some textiles have been found but fragments. The spin and twist of the thread are not the same as those from Italy but from the Near East. There is evidence of dyes, buttons, embroidery, patterns. one piece had lions repeated in diamond shaped bands. There is evidence of ribbons. Early research showed silk but this is probably now seen as wool goats hair, nettles.
Cecilie Brøns
I combine this with the discussions with our guide, a local man whose family is still rural, nomadic hunters who have a number of animals but these are wild and no cropping. They are hunter gathers with early agricultural development. The original animistic religion was shamanism. This was overturned by Buddhism which was overturned by Communism. 1991 was liberation from communism and it is now a democracy. So the reassurance of both religions together but separate is seen. Religion is voluntary here. Each family in the rural areas has a shaman who is responsible for omens, medicine, religious teaching, theurgy. I can't find a god/goddess but they say it is ancestor worship. The museum has deer stones, 100s of standing stones painted with symbols, deer and sometimes other animals. One has a human face but that is rare.
The shamans seem similar to the mystery cults
they use smoke, perhaps a psychedelic.
they have ecstatic dance
they use music, the bells, tambour, pipes and lute. One pipe is made from the hollowed human thigh bone.
they meet together for ecstatic dances ( ?mass hysteria)
they dress covered up seemingly emulating a god or a demon. Demons are stressed in the work offered by the skulls.
There is clear hierarchy established by dress codes. Tribes are identified by their dress.
This looks like a mystery religion to me. I noted some geographical issues- Mongolia has been related to Russia by proximity- they have cyrillic language and writing, yet are clearly related by proximity and facial features to China. How did they get their cultural influences? Buddhism came via China and India. Animism was either autochtonous or related perhaps to Ancient Near East influences, or via Russia
Does today's culture show us something akin to that in ancient Greece, Egypt and the Near East?
They had some wonderful textiles, silk, wool,, fur and leather from 600 BC. Were there textiles in ancient Greece that have been preserved? Did they embroider them as well, with religious motifs and for religious purposes?
Margarita Gleba Tracing textile cultures of Italy and Greece in the early first millennium BC, Antiquity, 91, 359, 2017, pps 1205-1222.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/642F7FC36D2E140DA6ADFE9BFF663F1B/S0003598X17001442a.pdf/tracing_textile_cultures_of_italy_and_greece_in_the_early_first_millennium_bc.pdf
Yes some textiles have been found but fragments. The spin and twist of the thread are not the same as those from Italy but from the Near East. There is evidence of dyes, buttons, embroidery, patterns. one piece had lions repeated in diamond shaped bands. There is evidence of ribbons. Early research showed silk but this is probably now seen as wool goats hair, nettles.
Cecilie Brøns
Gods and Garments: Textiles in Greek Sanctuaries in the 7th to the 1st Centuries BC , Oxbow 2016
a book to get if possible.
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