The yeti is widely known but not well understood. Its physical presence, accepted as fact by most Himalayan people, was the subject of much scientific study. In the end, reports and evidence of its physical existence failed to meet the scrutiny of paleontology and zoology. But the yeti has a ubiquitous presence in Himalayan culture. It isa living current, popular mythology and a folkloric treasure whose origins I seek to uncover in this work. Yeti were originally fierce spirits of nature - mountain goddesses and forest wildmen of the pre-Buddhist Bonpo shamanism of Tibet. They are principle characters in a vast oral mythology of becoming a shaman. A spiritual biography of the yeti is described from the perspective of an anthropology of consciousness and history of Tibetan religions.
Ethnographic research was conducted in Nepal in 1976-77 and 1978, and again for an average of three months annually from 1993-2001. Fieldwork was primarily with Tamang shamans residing in Boudhanath, approximately six miles from the city of Kathmandu, as well as with Magar shamans in the Pokhara area. Both Tamang and Magar are of Tibetan ethnicity and their distinct ancestral languages are of Tibetan origin. Nepali, however, is the national language. All foreign terms are in Nepali unless otherwise specified.
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