Orochen Berel’tuev reflects the persecution of shamans during his childhood

A woman and Komsomol member called for shamans and lamas to be persecuted. At the same time, Orochen Berel’tuev recalls that lamas were secretly hidden and protected by the Evenks. He remembers how, as a child, he helped hide lamas in haystacks. He dug hollows into the haystacks and covered the openings with hay when search parties arrived and probed the haystacks with wooden pitchforks. Later, the lamas who had come from Buryatia were imprisoned. After their release, they lived in Uliunkhan and began speaking Evenk. A birch tree in the village still marks the site where the prison once stood.
(Subtitles: cc)

Recorded by Mariia Berel’tueva, Uliunkhan, Kurumkan District, Republic of Buryatia, December 2025.
Translation: Mariia Berel’tueva.
Transliteration: Mariia Berel’tueva, Daniil Nikitenko.
Editing: Nadezhda Mamontova.