Agria 42. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2006)

Hoppál Mihály: A samanizmus „népi vallás’?

traditions are based on the mythological mental models of the given ethnic group (for example Birtalan 2003 on Mongolian Folk Religion). In the great religions there is a strict division/separation between the clergy (the elite) of the religious practitioners (priests, mullahs, monks with a rigid hierarchy) and the common folk. In shamanhood, however, there is no hierarchy, no separation between the shamans and the ordinary folk. They are really together or acting together in a ritual (something I witnessed during a Buriat animal sacrifice). Of course there are similarities between priestly and shamanic functions and practices (singing together, processing together, etc.), but the relation between shamans and their folk is not hierarchical but participatory. So why is this an issue? Because the word religion comes from the Latin word religio, to bind, pointing us to a major function of religions, the binding together of people into a supportive congregation or community". 462