MONGOLIAN & SIBERIAN SHAMANS

A newly researched account of the Shaman costumes and ritual equipment at the National Museum of Denmark
 
This richly illustrated book showcases the costumes and ritual equipment obtained from Shamans in Mongolia and Siberia in the 1930s by two legendary Danish travellers, Henning Haslund-Christensen and Knud Rasmussen. Although partially described by Haslund-Christensen in earlier publications, Rolf Gilberg, with expertise accumulated over more than forty years of study, analyses, describes, and presents these materials in a context for a contemporary international audience.
 
Gilberg’s analysis is supported by an abundance of original illustrations, newly discovered photographs, and personal encounters with Mongol Shamans, which guide his exploration of the history of the objects’ collection, the cosmology of Shamanism, and the diversity of Shamans in the larger Mongolian and neighbouring Siberian region.

Rolf Gilberg is former curator of anthropology at the National Museum of Denmark and author of 340 papers and books. In 1990 he cofounded the Danish Mongolian Society and served for twenty-five years as chairman and editor of the society’s journal, GER.