The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-05-25
RELIGIOUS RAG BAGS.
What MIR. Kennan Saw While Riding
Through the Trans BaiEal.

All day Wednesday we rode south
ward through rather dreary and desc
late region of sandy pine barrens or
wide stretches of short, dead grass,
broken here and there by low hills COW
cred with birches, larches and ever
green's. Now and then we met train
of small, one-horse wagons loaded with
tea that had come overland across Mon
golia from Pekin, o. two or three
mounted Buriats (Boor-yats) in dish
panshaped hats and long brown kaftans
(kaf-tans), upon the breasts of which
had been sewn zigzags of red cloth that
suggested a rude Mongolian imitation
OF the Puritan "Scarlet Letter." AS a
rule, however, the road seemed to be but
little travelled and scantily settled. and
in a ride of nearly fifty miles we saw
nothing of interest except here and
there on SUBMITS of hills, small sacred
piles of stones, which Mr.. Frost called
'Buriat shrines." All over Siberia it
ia the custom of the natives when they
cross the top of high hill or noun
tain 20 make propitiatory offering to
the spirits Of storm and tempest. In
the extreme northeastern part of Site
ria these offerings consist generally of
tobacco, and are thrown out on the
ground in front of some prominent and
noticeable rock; but in the Trans-Baikal
the Buriats and Mongols are accus-
customed to pile heap of stones be-
side the road, erect thereon half a
dozen rods or poles, and suspend from
the latter small pieces of their cloth
ing. Every pious traveller who passes
a shrine of this sort on the summit of
a mountain is expected to alight from
his vehicle or dismount fro his
horse, tear off a little piece of his KAT
tan or shirt, hang it up on one of these
poles and say prayer. AS result Of
this ceremonial, every shrine presents
to the traveller sort of tailors collec-
ton of scraps and remnants of cloth of
every conceivable kind, quality ana
color, huttering to the wind from slen-
der poles that look like hastily impro-
vised fishing-rods. Theoretically this
custQm would seem to be not wholly
without its advantages. If native
was familiar with the clothing of his
friends, he could always tell by simple
inspection of one of these shrines who
had lately passed that way, and. if
necessary, he could trace any particu-
lar person from hilltop to hilltop by
the strips of his shirt or the frayed
edges of his trousers left hanging on
the -ballasted fishing-rods as an
Offering to the mighty gods of the ST.
berian tempests. In practice, however,
this might not be feasible unless one
could remember all the old clothes of
the person whom one wished to trace
and the ancestral rags and tatters of
that PERSONS family. From a careful
examination that we made of a number
of shrines we became con vinced that
every religious Buriat keeps eligious
rag bag. which he carries with him
when he travels and to which he has
recourse whenever it becames neces-
sary to decorate the sacred fishing poles
of the storm-gods. l am sure that
such miserable, decayed scraps and
tatters OF raiment as we saw huttering
in the wind over the shrines between
Selinginsk and Kiai:hta never could
have been cut or torn from any gar
ments that were actually in wear.-
George KEENAN,. in Century.