The complex of the contemporary belief system, ritual practices and textual tradition of the Mongol ethnic groups is a syncretic religious phenomenon. This complex, which evolved when Buddhism appeared in the region, can be conceived as a Mongol folk religion that is neither identical with the shamanic religion nor with Buddhism. Since the 16th or 17th century the Buddhist missionary monks tried to incorporate the major cults and rituals of aboriginal religions into the Buddhist teaching; parallel to this process the original forms of religious belief were made to integrate various elements of the official religion. Parallel to the religion of the ruling elite, a kind of folk religion also started to emerge.

After six decades of repression the Mongols could return to their religious practices and various aspects of the folk religion were revived. The first Hungarian–Mongol Expedition exploring the dialects and folk culture of West- and North-Mongol ethnic groups took place in 1991. The participants had the opportunity to document the renascence of religious activity and the appearance of new influences in the religious practices.

The lecture summarises the main phenomena of Mongol folk religion in its traditional and contemporary context, surveying the connection of shamanism and Buddhism to folk religious practices and demonstrating its non-Mongol, especially Tibetan, connections.