Olots of Hulun Buir: Revisiting Research Sources on Their Spiritual Culture

The article studies some sources that deal with certain aspects inherent to spiritual culture of Hulun Buir Olots (PRC). The work is topical enough since the ethnic group is small, and its size tends to further decrease. Insight into various aspects of history and culture of Hulun Buir Olots may be instrumental in clarifying individual issues of the historical and cultural unity of Western Mongols — Oirats (until the middle of the 18th century) — and reconstructing certain elements of their traditional culture. Goals. The paper aims to identify and investigate sources in Classical and modern Mongolian (Cyrillic) containing data on folklore, religion, and the formation of Olots in Hulun Buir. Results. The study reveals spiritual culture of the ethnic group is still characterized by many features typical for that of the Oirats. So, Olots of Hulun Buir have preserved the folk song Altai Khangai, songs and legends about the Oirat leader Galdan Boshogtu Khan. The lingering folk songs performed by Olots of Hulun Buir are similar to the those of Olots in Khovd (Mongolia). The article also examines pastoral songs, shamanic invocations, legends about the struggle between shamans and Buddhist priests. It is noteworthy that the first Buddhist monastery called Buyan Tsugluulagch was founded in 1785, and contributed a lot to the strengthening of Buddhism in the region. Olots paid great attention to the development of school education. For example, Zhalfun (a common clerk) founded a home school in an ordinary yurt around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was teaching Mongolian and Manchu writing. Master Buyantogtokh founded an elementary school during the Manchukuo period and his student Ts. Hada grew to become a prominent scientist. The work also analyzes modern poems of some Olot intellectuals about Anu Khatun (Galdan Boshogtu Khan’s wife), school, etc. The study of Olot proverbs shows some of them belong to the general Mongolian cluster, and some have analogies in the Buryat and Barga (Barghut) languages. Moreover, the study discovers that until recently Olots of Hulun Buir have had storytellers that could recite the Jangar epic. Conclusions. Olots of Hulun Buir have a rich spiritual culture, and some elements of the latter go back to the common Oirat cultural heritage. At the same time, the spiritual culture of the ethnic group has its own local characteristics resulting from their long stay in Hulun Buir.

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