Dr. Nestor Manichkin: Collective Memory and the Tradition of Sacred Pilgrimages in the Shamanic Environment of Modern Kyrgyzstan

This lecture will focus on the tradition of ziyarat kaluu—sacred pilgrimages to holy places known as mazar—as practiced in Kyrgyzstan among followers of syncretic shamanistic and neo-shamanistic movements, as well as among the general population. These practices blend elements of folk Islam, Sufism, and pre-Islamic traditions such as shamanism, animism, and magic. The introductory part of the lecture will be devoted to the core concepts of the Kyrgyzchilik tradition (the spiritual heritage of the Kyrgyz), including key terms and characteristics associated with the roles of male shamans (bakshy), female shamans (byby), and mystic wanderers (dubana). The speaker will then present photographs and video footage from his fieldwork, conducted since 2011, and will focus in particular on the Ata-Beyit memorial in the Chui region—the burial site of victims of Stalin’s repressions. In recent years, this site has become a space for neo-shamanic and spiritual practices. The lecture will explore the connections between ritual practice, the visions of mediums from the Talas region, historical memory, and current political realities. To analyze the pilgrimage tradition, the speaker draws on the concepts of liminality and collective memory, presenting ziyarat kaluu as a key mechanism for preserving oral history and transmitting knowledge through ritual performance.