Why and how to decorate the New Year’s tree?

The young man glanced at the birch tree and suddenly noticed seven steps made in its trunk.

“What is this for, Kudai Kam?” he asked, surprised.

“These steps mean that a shaman can ascend to the seventh heaven. Every step means one of the heavens”, explained Kudai Kam.

“Why do you need it?”

“Because a true shaman can travel everywhere he wants. All the worlds are in his power. He can ask any God in any of the worlds for good luck or help or curing someone. He can ask for everything people ask a shaman for”.

“So this is the secret of a shaman’s power, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Didn’t you think of it before? In the places where you grew up… don’t they bring the New Year’s tree home?”

“Yes, but the New Year is a special day, and the tree is just for decoration”, Saosh Yant smiled, pleased with memories. “The New Year’s tree, fairy lights, shiny balls… and the smell of tangerines everywhere”.

“Ha-ha!” Kudai Kam laughed out loud, amused. “Tangerines!”

There was so much energy of life, so much strength, sincere love and kindness in his laugh! Such a catching laughter! Some incomprehensible magic and zest for life sounded in this laughter! 

“Yes, this is how it is”, answered the young fellow, a bit disconcerted. “We do it every year. What’s so funny about it?”

“Did you know that it’s an ancient shamanic ritual?”

“Ah yes, actually, I heard about it from my grandpa”, Saosh Yant scratched his head.

“There you go! This fir tree is not just a decoration for your event. It has to remind people about an ancient ritual. It symbolizes the World tree, which connects the three worlds. The roots are the Lower world, the middle is the Medium world, and the top of the tree is the Upper world”.

“What about the decorations?”

“The decorations are supposed to mean souls, events and objects, originating in the Upper world and then embodied in the physical one. When things wear out and break they go to Erlik’s world, the lower one. In ancient times each “toy” for decoration contained the concept of a certain soul, object or event if people wanted them to be “implemented” in real life”.

“Wait, Kudai Kam”, the young man interrupted him. “Seriously? Do you think these colourful balls, icicles and party poppers can help events to happen in real life? Sounds a bit dodgy to me”.

Kudai Kam laughed again, cheerfully, contagiously.

“You’re right! Balls and icicles won’t do! People have long forgotten how to decorate the New Year’s tree properly. They don’t understand the ritual at all. One should not decorate it with meaningless fashionable stuff. You should hang special shamanic things on it to attract the event they symbolize. If a couple wants a baby, or a shepherd waits for the animal yield, or a merchant desires more money, they all need to symbolize it by special objects”.

“Who made them?”

“People. A couple would make a toy for their future child. A shepherd would make a little statue of an animal. A merchant - a symbolic image of money. And then a shaman or a special priest would perform a ritual to spiritualize them. After the ritual each objects would have a corresponding soul, so you can say that shamans “animated” them. Then people would sing and dance in a ring around the tree, which made these objects even more powerful. They were filling them with the energy of their desires, with every intention”.

“Wow! That’s amazing” the young man smacked his tongue. “It can’t even be compared to what people have turned it into these days! They just get drunk and sleep under that tree! How have we stooped so low? Tell me, does it affect the whole year?”

“Of course, it does! It’s like forecasting misery for yourself! Celebrating like this, a human being loses his or her health and luck. Everything in our life affects us!”

“So… one shouldn’t drink alcohol and watch TV, but rather walking in circles around the New Year’s tree and make wishes?”

“Well, yes…” said Kudai Kam sadly. “But it all sounds like games children play in kindergartens, doesn’t it? This is how a lot of ancient rituals remain in our lives only as games for children”.

“Yes. I remember a game from my childhood. We were standing in a circle, holding each other’s hands. Then we started to sway and repeated together: “Sea runs high one, sea runs high two, sea runs high three, make a figure in the sea!” Then we let our hands go and stood there, freezing each in their own pose. It felt very unusual”.

“Yes, it helps you understand yourself. Especially, if the pose you are choosing is very uncomfortable”.

“Freeze-unfreeze” (or “die-live”) was also something of the kind. Those poses were even worse but we tried our best to stand as long as we could, for example, on one foot”.

“Yes, all these games are the echoes of the ancient rituals and practices, forgotten by modern people”.

“We danced around the New Year’s tree too, I remember. But how to do it correctly?”

“If you want to attract something that you want in your life, you should walk around the tree clockwise. It creates a field of positive energy. Every participant should shout out the desire you all have in common, filling it with energy and emotions. It’s much better if everyone wants the same and thinks about the same. It’s more difficult on your own because the field of positive energy will be much smaller”.

“It sounds so interesting!” Saosh Yant said excitedly. His eyes were shining. “Tell me more about how they decorated the tree. It was a sacred process too, wasn’t it?”

“Of course! How could it be otherwise? They used to place an image of Ulgen, the God of Future, on top of the tree, because this is where the new objects and phenomena come from; this is where all new ideas, forms and projects exist. Tengri Han’s image had to be above all because it depends on him whether your wishes will come true! A hair won’t fall off your head against the Supreme God’s will! Also they placed an image of Erlik under the tree to symbolize the Underground world where all the obsolete phenomena and forms go. This God is depicted severe and strict. It is him who people turned into the famous “Grandpa Frost”. People used to ask him not to take away the souls of humans and cattle to the world of the dead, not to send miseries and diseases, not to destroy their lives. Above Erlik there was Umai - “Snegurochka” - the goddess who was taking care everything that was to be fulfilled and saving it from Erlik. 

“Ah! That’s why she is always so cheerful and joyful!”

“Exactly”.

“But she is his granddaughter, isn’t she? So they are relatives?”

“Yes. Umai doesn’t create anything. She only keeps. Anyway, no matter how hard she tries, sooner or later everything goes into non-existence, to Erlik’s underground world”.

“What else?” Saosh became curious. “Tell me more. It’s so interesting”.