Religions and Traditions

After a short period of silence due to well-deserved holidays (and a few problems with my computer as well), I'm happy to present at last a new post which, I hope, will arouse new role playing ideas.

As explained in the book, Nomads always kept their traditional beliefs alive, despite their conversion to foreign religions. But what may not be clear, is how strong and long lasting the remnants of the old beliefs could have been, mixed with the new Religion into a kind of singular syncretism. This offers opportunities for interesting role-playing.

Alexis Levshkin, a Russian traveler in the 19th Century, wrote a full report on the Kazaks, plenty of prejudices for our modern 21^st century eyes, but also a great source of information about the life of the Nomads at this time, which was certainly not much different as centuries before. The author wrote a chapter about the faith and religion of these tribes which have converted to Islam centuries ago: it confirms how these conversions have been superficial and how the traditional beliefs, including Tengriism, resisted in a form or another.

Kazaks of the 19^th century follow of course some Islamic customs; they go on a pilgrimage to the graves of local Muslim saints; they believe in a single god and in Mohamed being his prophet; they base their law on the Islamic model; they forbid slavery for other Muslims (however not for Shi’ites, although they probably don’t have any clue about what they actually were). But the Nomads encountered by the author neither fast during Ramadan, nor pray 5 times in the day, nor have any intention to go to Mecca. Their women go unveiled and freely. Even more, Nomads go on with sacrifices when burying their dead and build oboos which they ornate with blue ribbons: a typical tengriist custom. When looking for advice, they may ask a sage Muslim when there is one in the vicinity, but more likely they ask a soothsayer who either uses a traditional divinatory skill, like the reading on the burned shoulder blade of a sheep, or asks the spirits, which is nothing else than shamanism. For medicine, far from taking advantages of the old and in the Middle Ages most advanced Arab medicine, they ask their “sorcerers”, that is their shamans, to chase the evil spirits away. And this still in the middle of the 19^th Century!

Obviously, generations after the official conversion to Islam, they did not completely give up their traditional beliefs. In some medieval Turkic Islamic texts, one can even find words like “Allah is the name given to Tengri by the locals”, and this from supposedly Muslim Turks! What is true for Kazaks and Islam is certainly true for any other religion and most of the nomadic tribes.

It would be therefore acceptable to keep the 3 traditional allegiances (Animism, Tengriism, Ancestors) at least as uncommon, whatever the official religion and the considered period.

This way to assimilate the imported religions can create interesting role playing situations: think about the reaction of settled people meeting Nomads supposedly having the same faith but behaving like traditional Tengriists animists. They will probably be chocked by Muslims eating non hallal food, praying the sky or eating during Ramadan, or Buddhists sharing with them a meal made of a freshly killed animal or cold bloody slaughtering prisoners or civilians. Not to speak about the relative freedom and, for tenants of the major world religions, impudicity of the women, as explained in another post.