SPIRITS AND ENVIRONMENT AMONG THE TYVA PEOPLE IN SOUTHERN SIBERIA - Anett C. Oelschlägel

ANETT C. OELSCHLÄGEL Ethnologist

When we utilise the objects which are in our possession then we are certain that these are things which we control. These objects are usually designated for our use. We use them as we please. However, what if this way of seeing things does not apply? If the pot we use for cooking belongs more to a socalled spirit master than it does to us? If we cannot simply use, lend or throw it away without first taking into account the existence and the role of this spirit master? If that is the case, then we are thinking and acting in accordance with a model of interpretation of the world which I call the “model of interaction”. Among the Tyva people in south Siberia, I have found a model of interaction based on the religious way of thinking in Animism and Shamanism. Everything which exists in the human environment has a soul and is possessed by spirits, so-called spirit masters. People must take the existence of these spirit masters into account (...)

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