Anyone travelling in Mongolia soon encounters a recurring feature of the landscape: a cairn of stones, often with a pole or branches at its centre, covered in blue scarves, bones and offerings. It stands on mountain passes, on hills, along roads, by springs. It is the ovoo (also spelled obo or oboo), one of the most widespread sacred places of the Mongol world, also found among the Buryats, Tuvans and other peoples of the region.
What an ovoo is
In its simplest form the ovoo is a heap of stones accumulated over time by passers-by. In more elaborate forms it may have a conical or stepped structure, consist of several cairns arranged in a pattern, and include branches, poles and prayer flags.
The ovoo is regarded as the dwelling, or point of contact, of the masters of the place, the powers governing a mountain, a pass, a river, a valley. Paying homage to the ovoo means recognising that one is crossing a territory that has its own invisible owners.
The traveller's gesture
The most common practice is simple and is still repeated today. Whoever passes an ovoo:
- stops, even briefly, instead of going straight on;
- walks around the cairn three times clockwise, following the course of the sun;
- adds a stone to the heap;
- leaves a small offering: a little milk, a sweet, a coin, sometimes a little vodka sprinkled into the air.
The clockwise direction is not a detail: in the Mongol world, as in the Tibetan one, movement that follows the sun is auspicious. Those in a hurry, in a car, often sound the horn as they pass an ovoo, as an abbreviated greeting.
The blue scarves
Ovoo are almost always draped with khadag, ceremonial scarves of silk or light fabric. The most common colour is blue, which in the Mongol world evokes the sky, and therefore Tengri, the celestial power. The khadag is also a gift of respect between people, offered with both hands on solemn occasions.
Alongside the scarves one often finds:
- skulls of horses or other animals, in respect for beloved animals;
- crutches and walking sticks, left by those who asked for help at a difficult time;
- banknotes, photographs, small personal objects.
The ovoo festival
Besides the daily greeting, many ovoo are the centre of an annual collective ceremony, traditionally held in summer. The local community gathers, repairs and renews the cairn, offers milk, meat and dairy products, and asks the powers of the place for rain, abundant pasture and prosperity for the herds.
The ceremony was traditionally followed by wrestling, archery and horse races, the same activities as the great Mongolian Naadam festival. In the past the ceremonies at the great ovoo were reserved for men, and even today in some places women do not climb to the top.
Between shamanism and Buddhism
The ovoo belongs to the oldest Mongol religion, tied to the spirits of places and to the sky. When Tibetan Buddhism took hold in Mongolia, from the 16th century, the lamas did not abolish the ovoo cult but absorbed it: they composed Buddhist ritual texts for the ceremonies and entrusted monks with officiating them. The prayer flags on many ovoo are a visible sign of this fusion.
Today shamans and monks may both officiate at an ovoo, depending on the community. During the socialist period the ceremonies were discouraged, but travellers' gestures never stopped, and since 1990 ovoo festivals have again been celebrated openly.
A lesson in respect
The ovoo teaches something Studio Esoterico Cornelio considers precious: the sacred is not only in temples, but along the road. Stopping, walking around a cairn, adding a stone is a way of recognising that the landscape is not empty, and that every passage involves a relationship with those who dwell there.
In short
- The ovoo is a sacred stone cairn found in Mongolia and among neighbouring peoples.
- It is the dwelling, or point of contact, of the invisible masters of the place.
- The traveller circles it three times clockwise, adds a stone and leaves an offering.
- The blue khadag scarves evoke the sky and are a sign of respect.
- Buddhism absorbed the ovoo cult, which continues to live today.
