ABSTRACT
Ethnographic sources frequently mention the sacrificial places' that indigenous Kamchatkans identify among the topographic features of their natural environment. It is believed that these special places are occupied by various kinds of spirits, with whom the community renew their connections through annual rituals. The chapter consists of two ethnographic case studies, each illustrating how contemporary ritual engagements with the Kamchatkan landscape differ according to the ideological framework in which they are enacted. The first examines Ololo, a ritual conducted by Koriak hunters in Lesnaia, located on the shores of the Okhotsk Sea. Ololo employs acts of imitation to symbolically secure the return of large game animals via the opening of pathways' in the landscape. The second case study focuses on the reindeer sacrifices that form a central part of funerary and commemorative rituals conducted among Chukchi reindeer.
