<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/0e79a15f-8b20-4062-b361-75a6784435e2/C551D62C-B06F-4F65-852B-FC50566516D1/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Shamans_Vote_for_First_Leader/1625131.html" href="http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Shamans_Vote_for_First_Leader/1625131.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.rferl.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Shamans_Vote_for_First_Leader/1625131.html"><DIV>But this is where Shonchalai Khovenmei, whose grandmother was a shaman in Khakasia, a region in eastern Siberia, has joined forces with Moscow shaman Olard Dikson to organize the election for the post of Russia’s chief shaman. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Shamans_Vote_for_First_Leader/1625131.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.rferl.org/img/6898A520-A443-42EC-8A6A-A252DEEBEEFE" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Shamans_Vote_for_First_Leader/1625131.html"><DIV>Shamans are regarded as spiritual healers in many regions of Russia, such as Khakasia, Buryatia, and Tuva, and among native tribes such as the Evenk of northern Siberia. The word shaman is said to come from the Evenk verb “to know.” </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Shamans_Vote_for_First_Leader/1625131.html">Russia’s native tribes have practiced various forms of shamanism for thousands of years, but the spread of the Russian empire in the 19th century and the official atheism of the Soviet Union meant shamanism was discouraged and often repressed.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Shamans_Vote_for_First_Leader/1625131.html">But today, shamanism is experiencing a revival in some communities, </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Shamans_Vote_for_First_Leader/1625131.html">Khovenmei and Dikson want a leader elected to help the shamans and their followers fight against stereotypes and repression outside their own communities.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/C551D62C-B06F-4F65-852B-FC50566516D1/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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