The article deals with a research of the cult honoring a sacred place named “Oboo” by the old Barguts in Inner Mongolia. The research based on numerous ethnographic materials and the translations of works of the Inner Mongols authors. The ancient ceremony named “Oboo Tahil” is described for the very first time. The old Barguts are descendants of medieval Barguts who had been living in Bargudjin-Tokum. At the end the XVI beginning of the XVII century, they moved from Transbaikalia to Kulun-Buir. From ancient times, the Barguts were shamanist, and still they continue to have shaman ceremonies as “Oboo Tahil” – the ceremony honoring the ancestral spirits and the «masters» of the district. Being citizens of the Qing Empire the old Barguts as many other small alien tribes began to be exposed to Buddhism introduction. Despite desperate resistance of the old Barguts, the shamanism lost its popularity, and in the course of time, the Buddhism gained recognition of the majority of the Mongolian people in Inner Mongolia. However, the Buddhism did not manage to get rid completely of shamanist traditions, and was compelled to assimilate them. Therefore, the old Barguts experience the syncretic religion combining features of the Buddhism and some shamanism practices. The influence of the Lamaism defined specifics of the shamanism: ceremonies of public, patrimonial character were generally entered into the sphere of cult actions of lamas, shamans deities were entered into the Buddhist pantheon. The cult “Oboo” is a ceremony of the collective shamans sacrifices directed to involve the wellbeing and happiness. “Oboo” of the old Barguts looks like a cone-shaped tent from branches of young trees which are thrust in heaps of stones, and are, as a rule, established at tops of mountains. For the old Barguts, being immigrants from Transbaikal region, the continuation of practice of collective ceremonies had a deep meaning - having allocated the new cult places noted by sacral symbolics, they fixed new territories as for practical development, i.e. legal, political, cultural, economic and economic development of a certain sphere of dwelling the sacralization was necessary. The old Barguts had both collective (public) and personal (patrimonial) prayers. Collective “Oboo” is considered as the biggest “Tuv Ulziit Oboo”, called also the “Amban (Ambaa) Oboo”, translated from Manchurian as “Big, Great oboo”.

Abaeva L. L. Kult gor i buddizm v Buryatii. Evolyutsiya verovanii i kultov selenginskikh buryat [The mountains cult and Buddhism in Buryatia. The evolution of convictions and cults of the Selenga Buryats]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1992, 142 p. (in Russ.)

Bimba D. Qaγučin barγu-yin tahilγatu obuγ-a. Uγaljin mergel-un teuketu ucir-uud. Külün-Büir, 2004, pp. 199–202. (in Mongol.)

Buyandelger J. Qaγučin barγu-yin jang uile ba uliger domug. Külün-Büir, 1996, 204 p. (in Mongol.)

Buyandelger Kh. Shamanizm u starykh bargutov [Shamanism on the Old Barguts]. Aktualnye problemy mongolovedeniya. Sanzheevskie chteniya-6 [Actual problems of Mongolian Studies. 6th Sanzheev’s Readings]. Ulan-Ude, 2006, Vol. 2, pp. 14–21. (in Russ.)

Buyanjargal J. Qaγučin barγu-yin obuγ-a tahilγ-a. Uγaljin mergel-un teuketu ucir-uud. Külün-Büir, 2004, pp. 192–198. (in Mongol.)

Gerasimova K. M. Obryady zashchity zhizni v buddizme Tsentralnoi Azii [The Rites of life protection in Buddhism of Central Asia]. Ulan-Ude, Buryat Scientific Centre Publ., 1999, 138 p. (in Russ.)

Mikhailov T. M. Iz istorii buryatskogo shamanizma s drevneishikh vremen po XVIII v. [From the history of Buryat shamanism from ancient times to the 18th century.]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1980, 320 p. (in Russ.)

Miyagasheva S. B. K izucheniyu shamanistskikh bozhestv starykh bargutov Kitaya [To the study the shamanistic deities of the Old Barguts of China]. Kochevye tsivilizatsii narodov Tsentralnoi i Severnoi Azii: istoriya, sostoyanie, problemy. [Nomadic civilization of the peoples of Central and Northern Asia: history, current state, problems, problems]. Kyzyl, Krasnoyarsk, 2010, pp. 165–168. (in Russ.)

Nimaev D. D. Barga i barguty [The Barga and the Barguts]. Tsybikovskie chteniya [Tsybikov’s Reading]. Ulan-Ude, 1998, pp. 44–45. (in Russ.)

Polevye materialy avtora: Ekspeditsiya v Khulunbuirskii aimak ARVM KNR [Field materials of the author: Expedition in the Hulun Buir aimak of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China]. 2006. (in Russ.)

Polevye materialy avtora: Ekspeditsiya v Khulunbuirskii aimak ARVM KNR [Field materials of the author: Expedition in the Khulunbur tribe of the Autonomous Republic of Inner Mongolia of People's Republic of China]. 2007. (in Russ.)

Rashid-ad-Din. Sbornik letopisei. Per. s persidskogo L. A. Khetagurova, red. i prim. prof. A. A. Semenova [Collection of chronicles. Transl. from Persian L. A. Khetagurov ed. and notes by prof. A. A. Semenov]. Moscow, Leningrad, AS USSR Publ., 1952. Vol. 1, P. 2, 257 p. (in Russ.)

Shu Jin Cai. Chen baerhu ren yu samanjiao. Hailar, 1998, pp. 1–3. (in Mongol.)

Tubshinima G. Barγučud-un teüke irelte. Өbөr Mongγol, 1985, 183 p. (in Mongol.)

Qandusurun J. Qaγučin barγu-yin qala obuγ gihed qala-yin obuγ-a. Uγaljin mergel-un teuketu ucir-uud. Külün-Büir, 2004, pp. 203–208. (in Mongol.)