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Siberian Crane

Leucogeranus leucogeranus

Status: Critically Endangered. With the longest migratory route of all cranes, Siberian Cranes are imperiled and difficult to protect from hunters. Habitat loss and degradation has also had a toll, and development of dams affects the tributaries and threaten the overwintering sites for the birds.

With three populations that utilize different Flyways for migration, Siberian Cranes travel up to 6000 miles from their wintering sites in India, China, and Iran to where they breed in Siberia, crossing the HImalayas on their perilous journey. Siberian cranes are striking in appearance: snowy bodies, red crowns, and black primary feathers. Their grace and fluidity inspire stories of their true nature as sacred creatures representative of the sun, and of springtime.

Among the Sakha of Russia who have a shamanic tradition, it is said that shamans are born far to the north. Their souls are cultured under the watchful care of the Bird-Mother, who has the head of an eagle and iron feathers. Her eggs hatch into varying levels of shamans, which she nurtures until they are ready. When a candidate has learned enough wisdom, they become a vessel for one of these shaman-souls. A shaman linked to helper ancestral spirits, who passed on shamanic gifts and aid to the shaman. These spirits were often birds such as a hawk, crane, or sandpiper, but also could be bear or dog or other creatures.

 

References:
Eliade, Mircea (translated by Trask, Willard R.). "Shamanism - Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy", Bollingen Series LXXVI, Princeton University Press, 1964. https://www.academia.edu/32688365/SHAMANISM_Archaic_Techniques_of_Ecstasy_M_I_R_C_E_A_E_L_I_A_D_E

Delaby, Laurence (1987). "Yakut Religion". Encyclopedia.com https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/yakut-religion

Balzer, M. M. (1996). Flights of the Sacred: Symbolism and Theory in Siberian Shamanism. American Anthropologist, 98(2), 305-318. http://www.jstor.org/stable/682889