Death in Khakas Shamanism

Death has always been a phenomenon that humanity tried to avoid throughout history. The most widely recognized way of death avoidance is creating an alternative world and a concept of eternal soul that replaces the physical body after death. In order to reveal the situation of these beliefs and practices developed against death among Khakases living in the Republic of Khakasia (Russian Federation), it is planned to conduct a research on the perception of death in Khakas culture in the concept of Shamanism. For this purpose, old and present beliefs and funerary customs in the valley of Khakas-Minusinsk was discussed in detail. It is also aimed to express the ideas about life, death, and afterlife of Yenisei Kyrgyz throughout history by interpreting the Shamanic philosophy underlying many Khakas rituals relating to death. The most common methods of data collection in qualitative research, interviews and observations were used for this purpose. Depth interviews were conducted with 21 Khakases in the region of Askiz and the capital city Abakan. Collected data was tried to analysed and interpreted with the help of arheological finds and ethnographic field notes achieved through literature review. The most significant difference between this dissertation and the other researches of the same area and topic is that the perception of death and the practices relating to this phenomenon in Khakas culture was extensively approached for the first time on the basis of fieldwork.