In ancient times, at Cape Burkhan (Shamanka Rock) there were committed religious sacrifices devoted to the main spirit of Olkhon Island, which, according to the beliefs of Buryat shamans, lived in the cave of this Cape Burkhan. The spirit was an owner of the Olkhon Island and was the most formidable and revered deity of Baikal. Near the cape in a sacred grove shamans were burned and buried. In the local museum there are shamanistic objects collected in the ashes of this grove.

According to the local traditions it was previously thought that women were forbidden to go to the cape, and they avoided this place for two miles. Prohibition for women to go through the cave, according to one version, was associated with a belief of ancient people that the presence of "impure and sinful" women could defile the purity of the holy places. According to another version, the ban protected women, because it was believed that a visit to the cave can complicate a childbirth.