The Altai mountains are a contact area of three world religions. They are Orthodoxy, Buddhism and Islam.

However, the traditional religion of Altai people from the earliest times is shamanism with some features of pantheism. It was believed that the world is divided into three kingdoms - sky, land and underground. In the sky kind spirits with the head of Ulgen live, in the underground evil spirits with Erlik dwell. And finally, people and kind divine beings called yer-su inhabit the land.

As for shaman, he is a mediator between all these kingdoms. Local people usually call them “kham” as Turkic tribes named. During the rite of kamlaniye a shaman reaches the state of mind appropriate for communication with spirits using his drum. The drum of shaman is covered with depictions of ritual animals and signs, which are clear only for its owner. Combining the knock on the drum and singing, a shaman appeals to divine beings, speaking to them in different voices, using whistle and throat singing.

Altai people believe, that every nature phenomenon is personified with particular spirit, that everything around is alive - very tree, river and stone has a soul and without the attention of people they feel themselves offended. That’s why there is a tradition in Altai to tie ribbons (dyalamas) around twigs of shaman-tree. It is accompanied by reading prayers. It is thought that this is the way to thank
the nature for its gifts. If people don’t do that, the spirits can be angry with them.

Today shamanism doesn’t spread widely, though Altai actors make different performances for tourists with great pleasure, where they imitate the rite of kamlaniye.

At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries orthodoxy appeared in Altai, and a bit earlier Mongolian Buddhism (lamaism). It should be mentioned, that Buddhism existed earlier there - in the 6th century.

The transition to orthodoxy was not an easy process for people and was more formal for them. They couldn’t get into the way of calling them according to Christian traditions and asked spirits and a shaman for help.

As for Buddhism, it was closer for them, because even in Altai language there are many words connected with this religion, for instance, “Boodo” – Buddha and others.

In spite of the fact that Altai people are more inclined to Buddhism, in the beginning of 20th century there were two ideological fronts – Orthodox and Buddhist ones. Moreover, there were many Kazakh people in the region, whose religion was Islam, but it didn’t have any influence on aboriginal population.

At the same time “burkhanism” appeared. In the basis of it there were some ancient legends about a certain Saviour, who’ll come to the earth and save Altai people from an alien enslavement. But it is doubtful whether burkhanism can be considered a religion. It’s a rather updated ideology of an old perception of the world. There is much from shamanism in it, but in some moments there is divergence of views.