Pásztor Emília (szerk.): Sámánizmus és természethit régen és ma - Bajai dolgozatok 23. (Baja, 2019)

Andrzej Rozwadowski: Varázslyukak: Átjárók a szellemek világába a szibériai sámánizmusban

Sacred holes: Portals to the world of spirits in Siberian shamanism

from their commonly shared view that the souls of the dead members of their community find their final 'resting place' in the mountains - more precisely, inside them. Mountains were even seen as a location of the genesis of particular families (Kyzlasov 1982; Burnakov 2013, 270), and in some accounts, the ancestors

of the Khakas are said to "have come from the rmountain(s)" (Kharitonova 2006, 199). This is why the mountains are perceived as truly sacred.

Importantly, this worldview was connected with the ritual context of powerand knowledge, which was possessed by shamans, a requisite intermediary for contacting the spirits, the dead. The shamans were the only individuals able to undertake ritual journeys inside the mountains; however, not only did they demonstrate the ability to enter the otherworld, but - which is equally important - to exit it as well.

The Khakas folklore possesses many references to the holes through which shamans used to enter the world

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