Black shamanism

Black shamanism (Mongolian: Хар бөө) is a kind of shamanism practiced in Mongolia and Siberia. It is specifically opposed to yellow shamanism, which incorporates rituals and traditions from Buddhism.^[1][2] Black Shamans are usually perceived as working with evil spirits, while white Shamans with spirits of the upper world.^[3]

Black shamans were thought to be able to stop demons by conversing with the spirits of human dead, turn into animals, fly, and go into trances.^[4]

Buddhism entered Mongolia in the sixteenth century after the conversion of Altan Khan. In 1691, after Outer Mongolia had been annexed by the Qing Dynasty, Buddhism became the dominant religion of the entire area and shamanism began incorporating Buddhist elements. Violent resistance in the eighteenth century by the hunting tribes of Northern Mongolia against the (Buddhist) ruling group, the Khalka Mongols, led to the foundation of black shamanism.^[2]