About the book: 2024 / What did the indigenous people of Siberia believe in? What rites and rituals did they perform? How did they imagine the universe? Who is a shaman and why does he dance with a tambourine by the fire? How does he manage to penetrate other worlds and maintain cosmic balance? This book answers these and other questions. Its author, historian and museum worker Andrei Shapovalov, arose an interest in shamanic practices from his student days, and at the turn of the century even brought him to the school of shamanism. An attempt to understand this phenomenon did not leave him for many years and led to writing a book. Its charm largely comes from the author’s conviction that the miracles that shamans perform do happen - even if there is not yet sufficient scientific knowledge to explain them.