Inner Asia
Mongolian Traditions
böö (male) · udgan (female) · tenger · ongon
Khalkha, Buryat, Darkhad, Dukha and other Mongolic groups
EthnographyHistory
Mongolian ritual practice interweaves sky-veneration, ancestral ongon spirits, ovoo cairn offerings and centuries of exchange with Tibetan Buddhism — a relationship of borrowing, competition and suppression rather than simple layering.
Ritual specialists
- böö and udgan called through ancestral spirits of a family line
- Initiation supervised by an established teacher and community elders
Cosmology
- Tenger: sky powers, in some accounts arranged in numbered assemblies
- Ongon: ancestral spirit-presences housed in effigies and images
- Land masters attached to mountains, springs and passes
Ritual practice
- Ovoo offerings
- Fire ritual and milk libation
- Possession séance with ancestral speech
History and pressure
- Buddhist state formation from the 16th century reshaped ritual life
- Socialist-era suppression in the 20th century
- Post-1990 revival, including urban and commercial practice
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