The Mother of Animals

Bugady Enintyn, whose name translates roughly as "Mother Bugady" or "Mother of the Taiga", is the guardian spirit of game animals in Evenki shamanic belief, one of the Tungusic reindeer-herding and hunting peoples of the Siberian taiga, understood as controlling the abundance or scarcity of the animals hunters depend on for survival and therefore as one of the most practically significant spirits in Evenki religious life.

Evenki hunting custom traditionally included specific ritual protocols addressed to Bugady Enintyn before a hunt, requests for success and expressions of respect meant to secure her continued favour, alongside taboos governing the respectful treatment of a killed animal's remains, since failing to honour these protocols was believed capable of angering her and causing game to become scarce for the whole community. This direct, practical link between correct ritual conduct toward a specific spirit and the material success of hunting places Bugady Enintyn within a broader pattern found across circumpolar and Siberian hunting religions generally, in which the relationship between humans and the animals they depend on is understood as fundamentally a moral and spiritual relationship rather than a purely mechanical one.