Ongon (Mongolian; plural ongod) is a type of spirit in the shamanistic belief system of Mongolia.
[6] In late-nineteenth century Mongolia, according to Otgony Purev, yellow shamanism revered ongon as well, and every three years yellow shamans gathered in Dayan Deerh monastery in Khövsgöl Province to "renew" these ancestral spirits.
In the case of the Tuvan shamaness Yamaan, an ancestor spirit is represented in the handle of a drum, a carved figure with a pink head and chest, a black crown, and red eyes and forehead.
[8] Some ongon live on in the place inhabited by the shaman: Agaaryn Khairhan, a mountain in Khövsgöl Province, takes its name from one of the most powerful shamanesses of the Darkhad clan, Agaaryn Khairhan or Bagdan Udgan, who lived on the mountain in the eighteenth century.
[9] In present-day Northern Mongolia, specifically the Darkhad Valley, clusters of ongod are found in transitional or liminal locations, such as the mouths of rivers or the borders between taiga and steppe:[10] In Darkhad Valley, the taiga and surrounding mountains are the traditional areas dominated by shamanism, where the steppe is dominated by Buddhism.