For many Mongolian and Turkic clans and tribes the Baikal land was their ancestral homeland. The descendants of the legendary «batyrs» (national heroes) were wandering around the whole Asia, but to conduct the ritual around the Mount Yord everybody tried to get together at the Sacred Sea. Every clan or tribe was bringing to this place a stone from their native camping grounds to strengthen the connection of their people with the ancestors, so that the sons and daughters would remember about their roots. The stones were put together, shook, interlocked with the native land. The strongest heroes tried to lift the heavier boulders and put on the top of the hill to make them closer to heaven, to show to the ancestors that the tribe is flourishing and living on throughout the centuries and that the sons deserve their forefathers. It is believed that in such a way the Mound Yord appeared. The ritual around the Mound Yord was connected with the annual sacred tailagan, religious ritual with offerings and prayers. The representatives of the Buryat clans and tribes were coming as pilgrims to the outflow of the Anga River to bow, to pray and make an offering to the spirits, the Masters of the sacred Mount Yord and Aya rock. The ritual was accompanied by the celebration - competition, showing the strength and dexterity, the craft and quickwittedness of the tribe generations.
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Turning left on the Kachug road towards Baikal we pass by the settlement of Yelantsy, the center of Olkhon region. At the distance of eight kilometers from Yelatntsy at the outflow of the Anga River there is the sacred for the Buryat people Mount Yord. The traditional holiday for the numerous nomadic peoples of Eurasia, including the Shamanist prayers, competitions in national types of sports (wrestling, stone throwing, arch shooting and others), the performances of singers and story-tellers - all these things were revived in 2002 and are conducted every two years. The focal point of the celebration is the big ritual round dance «yokhor» around the Mount Ekhe Yord. Yordynskiye games are conducted around two hills - Ekhe
Yord and Baga Yord, located in the valley of the Anga River («anga» means «gorge», «mouth»). The bigger hill Ekhe Yord presents an almost ideal a domed-shaped hill with the height 40 - 42 meters above the bottomland of the valley. The hill Baga Yord has a prolonged shape and it is just 12 m high. Both hills are made up by the rocks, characteristic for this part of Priolkhonye region. The hills have no signs proving their artificial origin. The only thing which is unusual about the hills is that they stand out in the absolutely even valley of the Anga River. The hills represented the mythic Tree of the World, which was used to make the connection with the heavenly gods, sending the prayers and offerings to them.
G u i d e to t h e B a i k a l a r e a
Ancient petroglyphs and hillforts were preserved on the bald Mount Sakhyurte (Silicon Hill), located at the distance of 5 km from Yelantsy on the left bank of the Anga River. The petroglyphs are made on the smooth surface of the white, gray and pink marbleized limestone brows. The most ancient group of the petroglyphs with the age being over 2000 years is located on the rock 100 m above the Anga level. The central place is occupied by the scene of goat, elk and moose hunting. The images present two unmounted hunters with arches and arrows; one of the hunters is on the skis. The images are very realistic, which means that the ancient residents of Baikal region knew these types of animals, which played an important role in their life. The scene of hunting is perfectly presented and the figures, cut in the rock, are well-discernible. There is at least one more remarkable place with petroglyphs, worth mentioning. The cliff Sagan-Zaba is one of the most beautiful places of Baikal western shore. It is located 5 km north-east from Cape Krestovsky and is considered to be a part of Pribaikalsky national park. The petroglyphs were made in different epochs and refer to the Bronze and late Iron Ages (2000 BC - 1000 AD). The drawings of Sagan-Zaba were discovered by the scientists in 1881. Stating the value of the petroglyphs, academician A.P. Okladnikov was writing: «The petroglyphs in SaganZaba bay with all their grandeur of the past, but even now impressive with the scale of their multi-figured composition of anthropomorphic images present the unique phenomenon among all the other rock carvings of Siberia. The rock art of Sagan-Zaba is the real pearl of the ancient culture and art of Siberian peoples. You won’t find any other such monument of this epoch in the area between the Urals to the Pacific».
RAINBOW OF BAIKAL TRAVEL
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