July 17th-18th, Shamans galore!!

July 17^th

I took a long morning. I slept through the hotel breakfast and then just lay in bed until I felt like getting up and eventually checking out.  I felt like my personal battery had been recharged. 

Since ACMS was still off work, I called Clinton, the ACMS intern and invited him to lunch.  He had just come back from a ride in the country side and was a bit sore, so we agreed to meet an hour later. I went to the state department store to help a friend get a TV adapter and for me to get a cinnamon bun.

After a nice lunch, I went over to Dashchoilin to deal with internet  things and practice my Mongolian for a bit.  I got myself an afternoon coffee then headed to T’s place. 

T was preparing to shamanize again and so I called a friend (X) to translate.  A lot of people ended up coming over, so I didn’t realize until after X had arrived that we would be running LATE into the evening. 

Due to the private nature of other people’s consultations, I will not describe what they talked about, I will however describe some of the ceremonies.  One woman brought in some items.  Grandmother, the spirit present at the time, poured out a cup of vodka next to a wrapped piece of cloth.  The attendant pulled out a sterile sealed medical needle.  Grandmother massaged the womans hand, pushing the blood toward the finger tip, then pricked a finger on each hand, producing a lot of blood.  Some of this blood was placed on the cloth, some was dropped in the vodka.  The vodka was mixed, blessed, then half was poured over the cloth.  The other half was taken outside, with the cup carefully sealed by the woman’s hands, then dumped out.  Then grandmother took her drum and placed it over the cloth and drummed over the cloth.   The woman then took the cloth under the drum, and with it completely concealed by the drum, took the cloth outside to dispose of it, and any negativity still attached to it.  She then returned and gave the drum back to the shaman. 

The shaman’s attendant helped clean up the woman’s hands, and the shaman’s as some blood had come onto his hands as well. 

Then it was my turn to step forward.  Grandmother greeted me, having met me before, and asked how things were going.  I smiled and told her that everything was going well.  She took my hand to read my palm again and told me to come back to her before I leave Mongolia.  She told me some things about my life and my future, and admired my nomadic lifestyle as a single woman.

“You may be a woman, but you are stronger than most men!” She said.

I laughed, “Well, I’m not dead yet!”

That was it.  Man, you have to be careful what you say in front of her.  She pulled out her bartaga and told me to bend down then slammed me on the back, fortunately only two times.  I remained silent, which is important.  The attendant told me I did fine and that this would take away some bad luck or problems. I’m always getting smacked.  

July 18^th

I woke up on the sofa of T’s ger, my head on the armrest.  Not exactly a comfortable position.  T and his little nephew were curled up on the sofa across the ger.  

In the morning, I dealt with some phone calls.  For lunch, we made instant Korean noodles and other junk food. 

In the afternoon, C and MA came over. MA is another young shaman. T explained that MA would be shamanizing that afternoon and was happy to let me watch for my research.  C and MA and I made our way to MA’s home where I was ecstatic to find a young kitten.  C and I played with the kitten, completely ignoring MA as he prepared to shamanize. 

At one point, MA, in full shamanic regalia, pulled out his drum and began drumming over the kitten, wiggling the tassels in front of her so she would play with them. The kitten, unsurprisingly, rules the ger.

MA shamanized, but unfortunately, I did not have a translator. It was still good, however.    I got home that evening completely exhausted from the previous night. Watched Wallace and Gromit on my computer and then went to sleep