The book discusses a number of topical problems of ethnography and folklore: the relationship of narrative folklore with the rite and the methodology of their comprehensive analysis, a discussion about the nature of magic, religion and shamanism, the question of the socio-communicative nature of the ritual and a number of other topics. A wide range of rituals that existed among the peoples of Siberia is analyzed in detail, in particular shamanic mysteries - kamlania. The second edition is supplemented by the author's article "The principle of reciprocity and the form of its manifestation in archaic culture."