The Scythian heritage in the culture of the Buryats

On the basis of revealing structural, functional, semantic and linguistic meanings of the Buryat round dances ekhor found out with the help of comparative and historical comparative analysis of the similar phenomena of culture of the Indo-Iranian and Indo-European peoples of Eurasia their connection with the Scythian Siberian art of «animal style» is identified. In the context of the connection revealed the ideological component of the Buryats’ blacksmith cult as peculiar «dramatizations» of the well-known Scythian myth has been justified. In conclusion, the development of the new conception of the festival «The night of ekhor» from the republican event to that of the international significance is actualized.