Alena Lidzhieva, About Monasteries, Lamas and Healers in the Past

Alena recalls when she was a child the nearest temple was far away from where she lived. Pilgrimage to the temple was carried out as follows. People – women, children and elderly – gathered together in the evening and went on foot to the temple. The journey lasted till the next morning. Before entering the temple, pilgrims made several circuits of the building, although Alena does not remember exactly how many times. Inside the temple people sat on the floor. After a ceremony monks sprinkled the pilgrims with rashan or holy water. Children were told by grown-ups to smear their hands with butter and drink the holy water from the palms of their own hands. The remaining holy water was sprinkled on their hair. The ceremony went on for the whole day and in the evening the pilgrims set off on their return journey. In the temple there were several high-ranking monks (lamas) and many middle-ranking ones (gelyungs). Young monks, or manzhik, cooked and cleaned, etc. There were also doctors, or emchi, in the temple who prepared medicine themselves from herbs obtained both locally and from Mongolia.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin