Ovoo

Imagine yourself a traveler crossing hundreds of miles of grasslands, deserts, mountains and sparse birch woods. In the distance, along a route well known between distant pastures, you spy an irregular mound jutting out of the flat expanse. As you approach, you recognize a pile of stones and random objects with a branch sticking out that has a piece of cloth tied to the top. As you have no trinkets to spare, you choose a rock on the ground as you get closer. You place the rock on the pile and circle around it three times clockwise. Perhaps you recite a short mantra to the spirits of the land through which you pass. It may even occur to you that a mound higher than you on your horse in such a distant locale could have been building up for hundreds of years. Then you continue on your journey.