Nature in Buryat myths

A good deal of attention is given to the image of the Mother–Earth. In the old days they worshipped the Earth which gives everything to man including life and everything returns back to her. She is the Hostess of all water, she represents the souls of fish, bird, snake, all beasts and animals. She is taken to be Great Mother of Beasts. The image of the Great Goddes in “Geser” has its parallels in world folklore.
The most ancient image of the Mother–Earth was discovered in Ur, an ancient Sumerian city on the Euphrates. This is a mother holding the son in her lap, both depicted with snake’s head. By the way, snakes represent eight kinds of spirits of the Earth worshipped by oriental peoples including Buryats who thought snake–like sabdaks to be hosts of territory or locality.
In Sumer she is a dual divinity, in the morning she is the goddess of battles and heroes, whereas at night she is the goddess of fertility. In a later time in Egypt she is understood as virgin giving birth to all the worlds. In the Buryat uliger or epic she conceives from the rays of the Sun and the Moon and gives birth to daughters who continue the lineage of human beings.
Yenkhoboi sister and Loir Khara Lobsogoldoi
Yenkhoboi sisters from the Geseriade like the Mother-Earth from Sumer also had long breasts, they threw them back which symbolized death and forward which symbolized life. The bulls in the epic are understood as totemic forefathers of Buryats. Grain is often mentioned in Buryat uligers. They are of sacral meaning, Geser when praying throws them around as the offering to the hosts of Nature.
K. M. Gerasimova, a prominent orientalist, was of the opinion that understanding of the essence of real physiological phenomena like pregnancy, birth, growing of corn from grains, appearance of birds out of eggs, reproduction of fish, insects, worms in water led to sacralization of biological vitality. Water, grain, egg were attributed magic vital potentiality. Their ritual part in religious cults is enormous. These natural elements have a deep symbolical meaning connected with the idea of vital energies. Larva reminding of worm is of interest in sacralization of Nature. One of the main attributes of shaman is the crown on his head which is connected with the idea of World Tree. On the crown there are hangings. The semantics of those objects was not quite clear. The hypothesis put forward by S. V. Alkin enables to solve the problem to some degree. He takes them to be the images of larvae of insects. The crown is image of World (or kin) Tree with the souls of unborn people which are depicted as larvae. The outward similarity of human and animal embryons with C – like larvae might give rise to the formation of a peculiar cult (S. V. Alkin).
The epic gives much attention to chaos, water, air, wind, rain, frost, etc. which all have special epical names. Still more attention is given to fire as source of material diversity. One of the powerful personages of the Geseriade, Gal Durme Khan is the symbol of Fire. Thus one can say that the prime elements of nature are attached great significance to in the Buryat tales. Buryats took note of the fact that their household and everyday life were dependent on natural phenomena, such as periodical change of seasons, climatatic variations, rain and snow, humidity of soil, etc. Alongside with this they mastered reality in the spiritual sense, they had ideas of spiritual relationship of Man and Nature. As a result there emerged quite a few cult rituals.
Khii-morin (air horse)
There is a custom of hanging from a tree a Khii–morin (air horse), a personal votive flag for well–being and prosperity. This is connected with honor and respect towards horse. The horse is regarded as mediator between the Sky and the Earth. Horse plays one of the most important parts in the Geseriade and in the life of Buryats, especially in the early period.
There are special rituals when building something. Earlier it was prohibited to dig ground not to damage its upper soil which was taken to be most fertile. Therefore it was needed to appease, please the spirits of the Earth, to calm them down, to ask them for the permisson to erect something. The spirits of the Earth get very angry when people dig ground without any reasonable excuse, break stones and rocks, fell tres and cut them, contaminate rivers and springs, throw dirty things into fire. One has to appease the gods and spirits making offerings and addressing them with invocations.
Before the battle the heros of the epic also complete special rituals. Geser is often shown going onto the top of a high mountain and praying. Before he starts his prayer he unbuttons his coat and takes off his belt. Nature played a great role in the life of Buryats as it is shown in the epical works.