Major Myths

Siberian mythology, which includes the beliefs and myths of a number of different peoples, has many variations on the story of creation. In one, the gods Chagan-Shukuty and Otshirvani came down from heaven to find the world covered with water. Otshirvani sat on a frog or turtle while Chagan-Shukuty dove repeatedly to the bottom, bringing up a bit of mud each time. The gods piled the mud on the back of the animal, which eventually sank into the water, leaving only the earth on the

Shamans are an important part of Siberian mythology, and were believed to be able to heal the sick by communicating with the spirit world. In this engraving, a Siberian shaman attempts to heal a sick person by banishing evil spirits. © BIBLIOTHEQUE DES ARTS DECORATIFS, PARIS, FRANCE/ARCHIVES CHAR-MET/THE BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY.

Surface. In other stories, Otshirvani took the form of a giant bird that fought a huge, evil serpent called Losy.

Siberian tradition includes myths about a great flood and a hero who saved his family. In one version, the creator god Ulgan told a man named Nama to build a boat. Into the boat Nama brought his wife, his three sons, some other people, and some animals. The boat saved them all from the flood, and they lived on the earth after it dried out. Years later

Nama was close to death. His wife told him that if he killed all the animals and people he had saved in his boat, he would become king of the dead in the afterlife. Nama’s son argued that the killing would be a sin, so Nama killed his wife instead and took the virtuous son to heaven, where he became a constellation of stars.

Another Siberian myth tells of a hero who followed a golden bird up the World Tree. The bird changed into many shapes, finally becoming a woman, whom the hero wished to marry. First, however, he had to destroy an extra sun and moon that were making the world too hot and too cold. For help, the hero turned to a sea god, who boiled the hero in an iron kettle and then shaped the fragments into a new man of iron, armed with iron weapons. The hero used these to shoot the extra sun and moon.