Shamanism and Artistic Expression in Siberian Culture

The text below is the excerpt of the book The Peoples of the Great North. Art and Civilisation of Siberia (ISBN: 9781639197569), written by Valentina Gorbatcheva and Marina Federova, published by Parkstone International.

The Art of Siberia encompasses a rich tapestry of cultural expressions spanning millennia, reflecting the diverse peoples and their unique histories that have inhabited this vast region. From the intricate woodcarvings of the indigenous Siberian tribes like the Evenki, Yakut, and Buryat, to the vibrant textiles of the Altai and Tuva peoples, Siberian art is characterized by its connection to nature, spirituality, and the nomadic way of life. Shamanic motifs, depicting animals, spirits, and celestial bodies, are prominent in many forms of Siberian art, serving as a visual language to communicate with the supernatural world. Traditional crafts such as pottery, basket weaving, and metalwork showcase a mastery of materials and techniques, often passed down through generations.

The arrival of Buddhism and Orthodox Christianity in Siberia introduced new artistic influences, leading to the construction of magnificent temples adorned with colorful frescoes and intricate iconography. Despite the challenges posed by political upheavals and modernization, contemporary Siberian artists continue to draw inspiration from their cultural heritage while exploring themes of identity, globalization, and environmentalism in their work. Through its art, Siberia offers a window into a world both ancient and modern, where tradition and innovation intersect to create a vibrant and dynamic cultural landscape.

Understood for close on three centuries now to be no more than a geographical extension of the Russian state, Siberia stretches from the icy Arctic Ocean in the north to borders with Kazakhstan, with Mongolia and with China in the south, from the great chain of the Ural Mountains in the west all the way over to the Pacific Ocean in the east. Within that span it covers no fewer than eight different time zones and around 20o latitude (between 50° and 70° North) – and thus actually represents more than two-thirds of the entire territory of Russia: some 4.9 million miles2 (12.7 million km² ).

Many Europeans think of Siberia as one huge wilderness remote and hostile to human habitation, mostly iced over, darkened by the polar night for a good proportion of the year. And yet Siberia is nothing if not diverse. From north to south there are a number of large areas that are completely different from each other in climate and terrain and thus in the local flora and fauna. The Arctic wastes shade into the tundra with its permafrost; further south, the tundra in turn shades into the slightly warmer zones where scrubby trees will grow; further south still is the evergreen coniferous forest of the taiga; continuing south, there are the fertile steppes and then the arid steppes – and all these various ecological areas come with their own topographical relief, from low-level flatlands to massively towering peaks.

Occupying the greater part of this vast landmass, the central Siberian plateau is bounded to the north, east and south by an enormous amphitheatre of mountain chains. To the north and east are the mountains of Verkhoyansk, which at their highest reach 9,097feet (2,389metres). Forming Siberia’s southern boundary are the Sayan mountains (9,612feet/2,930metres) and the ranges of the Altai (which at Mt Belukha top out at 14,783feet/4,506metres). Within these various chains lie the sources of the three great Siberian rivers, the Ob, the Yenisey (a name derived from Evenki ioanessi ‘great river’), and the Lena. These rivers are frozen over for much of the year – between October/November and May/June – but at other times flow powerfully across Siberia for about 2,500miles (4,000kilometres) until they reach the cold Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic Ocean to the north of Siberia is itself divided into several regional seas –from west to east, the Kara Sea, the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea – which are likewise choked with a thick blanket of ice for at least ten months of the year. The summer period of remission is brief: just the remaining two months, July and August.

In these northerly latitudes, the ground surface – permanently frozen – is mostly shingle, perhaps covered in algae, lichens and mosses. This is the true Arctic wilderness and characterizes most of the islands, especially those off the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula. Seals, walruses, belugas and polar bears populate the coastline.

As distance increases from the north pole southwards, the Arctic wilderness turns into the tundra – a bare region in which only lichens, mosses and short, scrubby trees (dwarf species of birch or willow, mainly) shroud the ground, with some spiky plants and Arctic grasses. Winter in the tundra is lengthy – between eight and ten months – and cold. At the end of November the sun dips below the horizon and does not return. This is the polar night, which in the tundra lasts for two or three months (compared with up to six months in the Arctic wilderness). Then finally, in January, the sun reappears once more, and the days little by little lengthen even as the nights little by little become shorter. This goes on until, from sometime in May to sometime in July, the sun doesn’t leave the sky at all.

Summer in the Arctic is not so much warm as brisk – temperatures average from 5- 12°C (40-68°F) – and short. Towards mid-August, heralding the end of summertime, the tundra takes on its autumnal coloration. Leaves on the woody plants turn golden, the lichens and mosses turn grey, while the wild mushrooms sprout in abundance and the berries ripen in a vast moving red and orange carpet.

The terrain tends to be marshy, with a scattering of thousands of little lakes of no real depth. Baron Eddel, a traveller who a hundred years or so ago explored the lower reaches of the Indigirka and the Kolyma Rivers, recalled in his memoirs that ‘to draw a map of all these lakes, all you need to do is dip a paintbrush in blue watercolour and bespeckle the paper all over with it’. The tundra is swampy because of the presence beneath the topsoil of permafrost – a stratum of soil frozen solid over thousands of years sometimes to a depth of 1,000feet (300metres) or more, whereas the topsoil itself may be no more than a foot (30centimetres) deep.

The permafrost is impervious, which means that although annual rainfall may be comparatively low, the water cannot drain away or be absorbed. Nor does it evaporate, because the air is already extremely humid and the heat is not sufficient. The southern boundary of the permafrost – a line that actually runs through a little less than two-thirds of the area covered by the Russian state – lies north of the valleys of the lower Tunguska (a tributary of the Yenisey) and the Vilyuy (a tributary of the Lena).

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