Ovoo

Ovoo

Partially wooden and stone Ovoo

An ovoo (Mongolian: овоо, heap) is a type of shamanistic cairn found in Mongolia, usually made from rocks or from wood. Ovoos are often found at the top of mountains and in high places, like mountain passes. They serve mainly as religious sites, used in worship of the mountains and the sky as well as in Buddhist ceremonies, but often are also landmarks.

When travelling, it is custom to stop and circle an ovoo three times in clockwise direction, in order to have a safer journey. Usually, rocks are picked up from the ground and added to the pile. Also, one may leave offerings in the form of sweets, money, milk, or vodka. If one is in a hurry while travelling and does not have time to stop at an ovoo, honking of the horn while passing by the ovoo will suffice^{[citation needed]}.

Ovoos are also used in mountain- and sky-worshipping ceremonies that typically take place at the end of summer. Worshippers place a tree branch or stick in the ovoo and tie a blue khadag, a ceremonial silk scarf symbolic of the open sky and the sky spirit Tengger, or Tengri, to the branch.^[1] They then light a fire and make food offerings, followed by a ceremonial dance and prayers (worshippers sitting at the northwest side of the ovoo), and a feast with the food left over from the offering.

During Mongolia's Communist period, ovoo worship was officially prohibited along with other forms of religion, but people still worshipped clandestinely anyway.^[2]

See also

A predominantly wooden ovoo in northern Mongolia

A number of sums (districts) in Mongolia have the word Ovoo in their name:

• Bayan-Ovoo, Bayankhongor
• Bayan-Ovoo, Khentii
• Bayan-Ovoo, Ömnögovi
• Mandal-Ovoo, Ömnögovi
• Saikhan-Ovoo, Dundgovi
• Tsagaan-Ovoo, Dornod
• Bayan Obo, in Inner Mongolia

Similarities with:

• Cairn
• Inukshuk

References

1. ^ http://www.culture.mn/mongolia.php?recordID=khadag
2. ^ EN060501B - The Human Body 1; Interview 2 - English

External links

• Culture Mongolia: Ovoos
• This is Mongolia: Ovoos
• Ovoos - in Mongolian Buddhism
• 2007 Mongolian Lunar New Year account - seeing in the new year (Tsagaan Sar) at the Khiimoryn Ovoo
• Alliance of Religions and Conservation
• pbase.com: Ovoo picture - with nine horse skulls
• Tengerism.org - Siberian and Mongolian shaman traditions