Folklore Shamanism Russia 1895

Shamanism in Siberia and European Russia, Being the Second Part of "Shamanstvo" Author(s): V. M.
Mikhailovskii and Oliver Wardrop Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 24 (1895), pp. 62-100 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2842483 . Accessed: 21/02/2013 02:17
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and NVew Books. Jliseellanea Anthropological
and was in hopesit would " theWallaceformula, namedin" Nature attention. thereby attract greater that in many Australian languagesthewords Wallace observed
for mouth and lips are Labtals, for teeth are Dentals,and for the nose are Nasals. Now this is so far true, and very true, tnat it goes furtherand applies to hundreds of languages, and what is to be noted, even to us in English, so that it is very easy to rememberthe law. Mr. Astoii and his fellow inquirers have to deal with this fact, and to account for the origin of speech language on this basis. It also accords with the phenomena of gesturelanguage, and of primitive symbology. Still further it accords with the evidence of
characters.
If anyone will take the ancient Chinese characters where they are round, the Shwo-wrenfor example, hlcwill, as I have pointed oat, findmuclh evidence. He will findrounds forround objects and labial sounds. In other ancient. characters he will find classed together mouth, eye, ear, sun (day eye), moon (night eye), egg, &c. Objects periodically or casually opening and shutting are assimilated. How this was worked out and connected with the organs has been sufficiently shownby me in " Nature," and since thentheresults obtained in a wide field of observationhave broughtfurtherconfirmation. Mr. Aston is quite right in treatingonomatopceiaas later and subsidiaryand not prim%ry. Shamanism in Siberia and European Russia, being the second part of " Shamanstvo," by Professor V. M. MIKHAIILOVSKII, Of Moscow, Vice-President of the Ethnographical Section of the Imperial Society of Natural History, Anthropology, and Ethnography.1 Translated by OLIVER WARDtOP (Part I). Shamanism in Russia at the present day.-Hitherto the word shamanism has been used in a narrow and strictlydefined sense, geographically and ethnographically. The term has been applied especially to certain phenomena in the life and philosophy of our foreign fellow-subjects,in particular the inhabitants of Siberia, and therefore, when we enter upon a wider consideration of the question, and consider shamanism as a pheDomenoncharacteristic of many peoples, scattered throughout many parts of the world, ve must begin by examining it in the region where it was first observed and studied, i.e., among the Asiatic and European tribes of Russia. Since it is our intentionto regard this phlenomenon from the point of view of uiniversal ethnography,we shall not give an exhaustive account of all the facts collected by Russian but shall limit our investigations to those data sufficient enquiirers,
1 ProfessorMikhailovskii'sessayforms the twelfth Vol. of the Proceedings of the Ethnographical Section,and was publishedin 1892.
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to furnishmaterialsfor a characterisation of shamanismin Russia in orderto compareit with similarinstitutions in other lands. Shamanism amongthe Siberianpeoples is at the presenttime in a moribund amono condition;it mustdie out withthosebeliefs which alone such phenomena can ariseand flourish.Buddhism on theone hand, and Mohammedanism notto mention onthe other, the old ideas of the tribes are rapidlydestroying Christianity, among whomthe shamansperformed.Especiallyhas the more ancientBlack Faith suffered fromthe Yellow Faith preached bv the lamas. But the shamans,with their dark mysterious rites, have made a goodstruggle forlife,and are still frequently found among the native Christiansand Mohammedans.The mullahs and lamashave even beenobligedto becomeshamansto a great extent. Many Siberian tribes who are nominallyChristians to them. The Yakuts, believein the shamans, and haverecourse forinstance, whencalleduponbythe government to give informationabouttheircustomary decadeof the present law,in thethird fromthe questionof insistedon excluding shamanism century, anyparticular of religion. Theysaid, " Shamanism profession is notthefaithor religion of theYakuts,but an independent set of actionswhichtake place in certaindefinite cases." And they endeavourto explain and justifythe attachment of Christian Yakuts to theirshamans.' The namesappliedto ShamansbythevariousSiberiantribes.of a degenerate Shamans, are to be metwiththroughthough type, out the wholeof Siberia,and theyare known by variousnames. The word shamanis only found amongthe Tunguses,Buryats, and Yakuts.2 It is only among the Tungusesthat this is the nativename; theBuryats, liketheMongols, also call theirshamans a shamanis calledoyun, a female shamanudagan.4 The Altaians use the termKam, and call the shaman'sdealingswith spirits kamlanie, i.e.,kam-ing.The Samoyeds calledtheir shamans tadibei.5 Despitethe different names,the performances of the shamans are the sarne amrong all thesepeoples, though all acknowledge thatthe modern shan-mans are less powerful thantheancient. Thefirst and their Shamans are somecurious tales origin.-There about the firstshamans and the originof shamanism. Mr. Shaslhkov has copied down amongtheBuryats of Balagan a long legendaboutthecause of the deterioration of the shamans. The first shaman,Khara-Gyrgen, had unlimitedpower, and God, desiring to provehim,tookthesoul of a certain and rich maiden, she fellill. The shamanflewthrough theskyon his tambourine, seeking the soul,and saw it in a bottleon God'stable. To keep
the soul fromflyingout, God corked up the bottle withione of the
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bo, and the female shamans odegonor utygan.3 Among the Yakuts,
Samokvasov: " Sbornikobychnago prava sibirskikh inorodtsev," 218-219. Shashkov,80. Agapitovand Khangalov,41. Potanin,iv. 61. Pripuzov,64. 5 Radloff: " Aus Sibirien," ii, 16.
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fingers of his right hand. The cunning shaman changed himself into a yellow spider, a-ndbit God on the right cheek, so that, irritatedby the pain, he clapped his right hand to his face, and let the soul out of the bottle. Enraged at this, God limited Kharashamans have been getting worse Gyrgen's power,aud thenceforth and worse.' The leg,endwhich we summarize is interesting for the glimpse it gives of the coarse ideas of an earlier period,underlying the modern mask of monotheism. The god referredto is but one of the spirits of the animistic epoch. The Buryats also have the following storyabout the appearance of shamans among men:-In the beginning there were only the good spirits (tengri) of the west, and the evil spirits of the east. The western tengris through the created men, who were at firsthappy, but afterwards, wickedness of the evil spirits, they began to fall sick and die. Then the good tengris decided to give a shaman to mankind,to aid in the struggle with the evil spirits, so theymatdethe eagle a shaman. Men did not put faith in a mere bird, and, besides, they prayed the did not understand its language; the eagle therefore western tengris either to allow the post of shaman to be given to a Buryat, or to bestow human speech upon the eagle. By the will of became the ofifspring of the eagle the good spirits,the firstshamTan and a Buryat woman.' The Yakut tradition is that the first strength, and would not acknowledge shaman was of extraordinary the chiefgod of the Yakats, for which reason the wrathfuldeity burned him up. All the body of this shaman consistedof crawling reptiles. One frog escaped from the fire,and fromit issued the shaman demons,who still supply theYakuts with famous shamans, male and female.' The Tungases of the Turukhan region, though the miraculous element is not wanting in their story,have a less fantasticaccounltof the firstshaman. According to their version, the first shaman was formedin consequence of his particularfitness for this occupation,and by the aid of the devil. This shaman flew up the chimneyof the yurta (hut) and came back accompanied by swans.4 The stories about ancient shamans, and the supernatural appearance of persons destinedto enter into immediate intercouirse with spirits anidgods, arose, on the one hand, fromthe desireof the shamans to give a special sanction to their proceedings; on the other hand, they are due to the peculiar characterof their doings, which produced an exceedinglypowerfulimpression on thb minds and imaginationsof uncivilised people. Forms of " kamlanie" and exorcism amongthe Tunguses.-Among of the shamans, the most characteristic the various performances of all is that which is now generallycalled kamlanie. The presence of a shaman at a festival,as priest and sacrificer, is but of secondary importance,and is not of the essence of shamanism. Scenes of kam-ingamong the various foreign peoples in Russia have been
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Shashkov,81. Agapitovand Khangalov,41-42. Pripuzov,64. Tretyakov:" Turukhanskii krai,"210-211.
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travellers, especially describedin detail by ancient anidmodern as ho Gmelin and Pallas. In Argunsk, Gmelinsaw thejuggling, took place at Tung,us shaman. The kamlanie calls it, ofa certain thefire; in theopenair,by a fire. The spectators sat round night, ofleather, andthen costume putonhisshamani stripped, theshaman was a toothed hungwith piecesofiron; on each of his shoulders no shamanhad as yet received iron horn. But this particular from the demons, of whichthereare a vast number; tambourine has its owndemons, and hethathasmost is considered eachshaman roundin the coiisistedof runniing the cleverest. The kamlanie and singing, in whichhe was supported by two assistants. circle, he had a tambourine; seen by Gmelin, AnotherTungus shaman, made a speech in a drawlingchant,and the Tunguses present in. The language wasunknown; utterances oftheshaman's chimed and droveback he thencriedout in thevoicesofvariousanimals, to him,but tormented spirits. The spiritsdid not say anything hima greatdeal.1 of kamlanie by a Yakut the Yakuts.-The description Among remarkable;this oyunseems to have made a oyunis especially tookplace in a birchon Gmelin. The ceremony greatimpression in front bark yurta, of whicha firewas burning. When it was and dark,a shaman, in the yurta, withlongblackhair,undressed but changed put on a coathungwithiron; he lefton his breeches, and are only for otherswhichwere embroidered, his stockings the kanlanie. He took his tambourine, wornby shamansduring and began to beat the sat down withhis face to the south-west, did not join in chorus. and cryout. The spectators tambourinie and beatingthe He sat thus for a while,grimacing, shouting, tambourine. Gmelin'scompanions told him that the man was the spirits. Suddenlythe shaman leaped to his feet, summoning the shoutslouder, the beatingon the tambourine becamefaster, abouttheyurta. At last his blackhairwas flying whilehe rushed the shamanwas overcome, and fell fainting. Then two chiefs seized him,for if the exorcist falls on the groundwhile he is misfortunes will happen to the whole people. Afterdelirious, and wards,whilea thirdchiefwas holdingoverhis head a fliut, a knifeon it,the shamanlookedroundfora moment, sharpening stopped, and again becamedelirious;whilst in this state,ne often fixedly looked upwards,and grasped at the air with his hand. and when all was over,and the Then followedhis prophecies, shamanhad doffed he declared that he remembered his dress,of a Yakut shaman in nothing.' Klark describesthe kamlanie language, and declaresthat the sound of terse but impressive antics of the shaman,his fierce the convulsive the tambouritLe, intothe all striketerror his wild starein the dimlight, screams, affect theirnerves.3 people,and powerfully heartsof semi-savage
Gmelin, ii, 44-46, 193-195. Gmelin,ii, 351-356. 3 Miark: " Vilyuiski ego okrug. Zapiski Sibirskago otdyela,"1864,kn. vii, 139. VOL. XXIV. F
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In the " SyevernyiArkhiv " for 1822, there is a descriptioni of the hjealingof a sick person by a Yakut shamian. There we finid him pla-yinganother part; that of the leeeh, driving away evil spirits which possess the sick and cause illness. His performanceconsisted of two parts; firstof all he did not put on his dress, but took a piece of tinder in hiis hand, twisted into tufts some hairs from a horse's mane, then embraced the patient, and thus took into himself the demons that caused the illness, found out what village they came from, and designated a sacrifice. When the animal destined for sacrifice was brought,the second part of the ceremonybegan; the shaman put on his professionalcostume,went up to the beast, and conveyed into it the demon that had entered him fromthe sick man. TI-his process had a terrifying effect upon the animal; it seemed to be paralyzed. Afterthebeast was killed, the head and fleshwere eaten, alndthe skin and bones were hung on a tree.' the Samoyeds of Tomnsk.-InWestern Siberia also, among Am^zong the Tomsk Samoyeds, the shaman alone has access to the darlk world of spirits; according to Castren, he performshis functions in a place specially prepared. He sits down in the miiddleof the room, on a bench or trunk,in which there must be nothing of a dangerous nature,neitherknife,nor bullet,nor needle; behind the shaman, and beside him, are ranged the numerous spectators; but nobody must sit in frontof him. The shaman's face is turned to to see and hear nothinig. In his righthand the door, anidhe affects he holds a stick,smooth on one side,and on the other,coveredwith mysterioussions and figures; in his left hand are two arrows with the points upwards; on thepoint of each a little bell is fixed. The raiment of the conjurerhas no distinctive character; he generally dons the clothes of the enquirer or patient. The kamlanie begins with a song, summoning the spirits,and during this the shaman beats with the stick oni the arrows, and the bells ring out the measure, while the audience sit devoutly silent. As soon as the spirits begin to appear, the shaman stands up and begins to dance, anadingenious moveaccompanying the dance with very difficult ments of the body. Meanwhile the song and the sound of the bells go on without pause. The subject of the song is a conversation with the spirits,and it is sunigwitlhvaryingdegrees of excitement. Wlhen the singing has become exceptionally enithusiastic,the spectators also join in it. After the shaman has learned fromthe spirits all he wants to know, he declares the will of the gods. When he is consulted about the fature, he divines by means of the stick, which he throws down; if the side marked with signs is downwards, this foretells misfortune,if it is uppermost, good fortune. To convince their fellows of the reality of their intercourse with spirits,the shamans have recoarse to the following plan: the ghost-seer sits down in the middle of a dry reindeer skin which is stretched on the floor,and has his hands and feet tied; then the shutters are closed and the shaman summons the
1 " Syevernyi Arkhiv,"1822,274-277.
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Among theChbkcehis and Koryaks.-Passingto the extreme side of Siberia,on the Pacificcoast, ve find,amongthetribes there, similar phenomena. Amongthe Chukebis, according to Litke,the
Castren: '; Reiseberichte und Briefe,"1845-1849,172-174. "1(,ratkoeopisanie o narodye ostyatskom-i," Grigoriya Noyitskago, 1715g. Izd. L. Maikov,1884,48-49. 3 Tretyakov, 217-218. F 9
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spirits subjectto him. In the variouscorners of the darkyurta, and event outside, different voices are heard,thereis a soundof scratching and drumming in time on the dryskin,bearsgrowl, snakeshiss,squirrels jump. When thenoiseceases,the unbound shamangoes out oftheyurta, and theaudienceare convinced that the whole performanace has beenthe workof spirits. Fartherto the north, the Samoyed shamans, to provetheirmysterious power, ask to be shotin the head.' Among the Ostyaks.-As earlyassthe days of Peter the Great, Novitskii, in his description of the Ostyaks,near akin to the Samoyeds, portrayed themanner in whichan Ostyak picturesquely shamanconjured. Whenthe nativeswishto makeenquiries about mattersaffecting theirdailywants,fishing, or the like, hunting, theylead the wonder-worker into a darkhut,and there bindhim firmly; theythemselvessit down and play on reed pipes; the captive shoutsout necromantic words,invokinghis ally,Satan. The performance always takes place by night,anid,after some lhours of invocation, a stormy and noisy spiritenters the hut. Then thespectators flee, and leavethe wizardalonewiththespirit. The spirittakeshim,raiseshimup and lets himdownagain,and torments himin all kindsofways. Some hourslater,the demon makes his revelation to the shaman,and then leaves him; the shamancommunicates the messageto the enquirers.YTretyakov has giventhesubstance ofsomeofthe sacredsongsoftheshamans among the Ostyaksand Yurak-Samoyeds. An Ostyak shaman sings that he is raisinghimself to heavenby meansof a ropelet downto him; he pushesaside the stars thatblock his way. In the sky,the shamanfloats in a boat,and thensails downa stream to the earth, with such rapidity that the air blows throughhim. Afterwards, withthe aid of wingeddevils)he descendsbelowthe earth,and asks the dark spirit "Ama," or theshaman'smother, fora cloak. (At thismoment the bystanders throwa cloak over his shoulders.) Finallytheshamaninforms each of thosewho are present thathis happiness is secured, anid tellsthepatient thatthe devil is cast out. Amongthe TazovskyOstyaksand Yuraks,the shaman sings of his journeyings, and tells how he flies amid blossoming, wild roses,andrises to the sky,where he sees on the tundraseven larches; there his grandsir e formerly made his tambourine.Then theshamanenters aniironhutand fallsasleep, surrounded bypurpleclouds. He comesdownto earthon a river, and thenadoringthe heavenly deitythe sun,themooni, the trees, thebeastof earth-the rulerof the world, he praysforlong life,
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theKamnchadals.-Among the Kamchadals there were no Among special shamans, but their place was taken by women; these were chiefly old, and they cured diseases by whispered charms. Their chief formof shamanism consisted of two old women sittingin the cornerand ceaselessly whispering. One of them tied round her leg a garland of nettles ornamentedwith red wool, and shook her leg about. If the leg rose easily this was a good omen, but if it rose with difficulty misfortune would happen. But the kamlanie did not terminate with this. The female shaman summoned the devils -%iththe words, "gut! gut !" and gniashedher teeth, and when the devils appeared she met them with laughter and cries of " hoi! hoi !" Half an hour afterwards the devils departed, and -when this happened the witchcried " ishki," i.e.,no. Her assistants were all the time whispering and telling her not to be afraid, and to notice everything and not forget the response. Some, adds Krasheniniiikov, say that in time of thunder and lightning the bilyu7kai, spirit,comes to the women shamans and enables them to give responses.3 Although Krasheninnikov, in his account of shamanism among the Kamchadals, declares that this tribe consider all women, especially old ones, capable of kamlanie, yet fromthe facts he gives we arrive at the conclusion that it is only certain women, exceptionallygifted,who can call up spirits, and become united with them. the Gilyaks.-The Gilyaks carefullyconceal all informaAmong tion abo-ut their shamans,and it is therefore veryinterestingto find that a merchant named Ivanov has given a detailed accounitof them,published in the " Sibirskii Vyestnik " for 1866. Mr. Ivanov lived on the Amur river from1855, managed a Gilyak school, and had close relations with the Gilyaks of the Amur and of Sakhalin Island. A shaman, out of friendslhip, allowed him to be presentat
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3
part.2
shaman, in his kamlanie, began by retiringbehind a curtain, then were heard groans,and gentle tappings, with a thin whalebolp, on the tambourine; opening the curtain,he was seen swaying from side to side, the shouts and drummingbecame louder, he threw off his coat, and stripped himself to the waist. The performance concluded with jugglery. First of all, the shaman took a smooth stone, gave it to Litke to hold, then took it between his hands, rabbed one palm on the other,and the stone disappeared; it was found in a swelling near the elbow, and was cut out. The last trick of the shaman, before retreating behind the cartain, was to cut his tongue with a knife until blood flowed.' The Koryak shamans, according to Krasheninnikov,had no special dress, and were only remarkable as healers of the sick and performersof tricks, e.g., they thrust a knife into the stomach. In healing diseases they designated the kind of animal which ought to be sacrificed. In their kamlanic the tambourineplayed an important
Erman: " Archiv,"1843, 459. Krasheninnikov, ii, 158-159. Xrasheninnikov, ii, 81-82.
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a kamlanzie. At ten o'clock Mr. Ivanov reached the yurta. "As soon as I entered," says he, "he began to put on his shaman ,costume, hung with heavy iron rattles, took in his hand a tambourine covered with fishskin,and beat upon it with a hair-brush. On his heacdhe hacd long wood shavings, and to the sound of the tambourinehe began dancing about the yurta,and shouting in a wild voice, endeavouring to show the spectators that he possessed that inspirationwhich is the mark of his profession. Among his various gymnastic feats and tricks, he took in his right hand a knife and in his leftband an axe, and going over to the door,where there was no light,placed the knifeagainst his stomacha-ndstruck with the axe on the handle of the knite until the blade of the knife had penetratedhis entrails,thenturningto the spectatorshe showed them that the blade had entered his stomach. All the bystanders went up to him to see; one ofthem took hold of the handle and pulled it away fromthe blade; the latter,according to the shaman, was left in his stomach, and thence he afterwards produced it." Mr. Ivanov afterwards detected the shaman's trick,and exposed him.1 A nmonq the llohngols.-Shamanism was especially developed near Baikal Lake and in the Altai Mountains. In these classic lands of the Black Faith, capable enlquirerslike Yadrintsev, Potanin, and Radlofl have laboured. There, in the south of Siberia, we findnot only examples of the productionsof the shamanist mind excited by an inflamedimagination, but whole mysterv plays in which the conjuirersup of spirits are the actors, plays distinguished by a strong dramatic element. Amongf the ancient Mongols,as early as the time of Chingis Khan and his immediatesuccessors,the shamans were at the height of their power; they were priests, leeches, and prophets. As priests they need not occupy us at present. For healing purposes,the ancient Mongolshamans cmployedthemethods which are still used in Siberia. When the exorcistof the spirits guilty of causing the illness could not fall into a state of delirium, the spectatorstried to excite him by clapping of hands, shouts and songs; this custom is called togokhaby the Mongols. As soothsayers, they eitherforetoldthe fuature, or divined according, to the flightof arrows,or by the shoulder-blade; theyburnedthe shoulderblade of a sheep, and made responses to enquirers according to the cracks caused by the fire.2 AmongtheBuryats.-Among the Alarsk Buryats, the shamnan, when called in to heal a sick person,makes a diagnosis, i.e., he enquires into the cause of the illness, anid decides what has happened to the patient's soul, whetherit has lost itself,or nas been stolen away and is languishing in the prison of the gloomy Erlik, ruler of the underground world. A preliminarykamlanie decides this question. If the soul is near at hand, the shaman, by methods known to himL alone, replaces it in the body,if the soul is faraway, he seeks it in every part of the world; in the deep woods, on the
2
1 "Sibirskii Vyestnik," 1866, No. 18.
Banzarov,114-115.
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steppes, at the bottomof the sea, and when he has foundit, restores escapes from its pursuer; it it to the bodv. The soul frequently runs to a place where sheep have walked, so that the shaman cannot discover its traces, which are mixed with the footprintsof the sheep, or it flees to the south-westernspirits,where it is safe fromthe wiles of the shaman. If the soul is not to be found anywhere withinthe limits of our world, the shaman must seek it in the realm ofErlik, and performthe toilsomealndexpensivejou-rney to the undergroundworld, where heavy sacrificeshave to be made, the at the cost of the patient. Sometimes the shaman informs, patient that Erlik demands another soul in exchange for his, and asks who is his nearest friend. If the sick Buryat is not of a the the shaman,withhis consent,enisnares magnanimousdisposition, soul of his friendwhen the latter is asleep. The soul turns into a takes the form of a hawk, lark; the shaman in his k-tmlcanie catches the soul, and hands it over to Erlik, who frees the soul of the sick man. The friendofthe Buryat, who recovers,falls ill and dies. But Erlik has only given a certain respite; the paticnt's life is prolonged forthree, seven, or nine years.' The famous Berlin ethnographerBastian describes the kamlanie of a Buryat shaman, at which he was present. An old shaman, in the companyof three of his pupils, who assisted him,by night,in a yurtahalf lighted up himself about, stamping wildly, and, while perby a fire, flungf forminghis dance round, summoned the spirits in a monlotonous chant with a rhythmiccadence. When the shaman reached his pupils they fell down prostrate before him, and he touched their heads with two wands which he waved duri;ng his performance. Bastian's guide asked a question about a box thathad been lost on the road. One of the pupils carefullylaid a shovel on the coals, so that and filledit with thin splinters of wood,keeping up the fire the whole surface of the shovel would be on fireat the same time; then he reverentlycarried over the shovel full of flamingchips to his master, who spat oln it several times and eagerly noticed the crackling of the burninigwood, at the same time groaning and the response was indefinite twitehingconvulsively. Unfortunately and obseure.' Mr. Pozdnyeev gives, among his specimens of the wizard song of the Mongol tribes,an interesting, popular literatuLre before a Burryat set of a Buryat shaman. It was sung, apparently, out for the chase, and reminds him of his duties towards the Russian Governnment.
rock "Tree of the western Spread in thyyout,h, Takinga blue colour, Bloom withblue blossonms." "Father heaven,0 take! Thou mustmake a ramrod, kill the roebuck'smate, Thou mlust to the Tsar, Thou mustpay tribute Thou mustdo cartingforthe Kazaks."
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Potanin,iv, 86-87. Bilder," i, 404-406. und ethnologische JBastian:" Geographische
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" Tree of the southern rock Spread out fromthyroot; Taking a blue colour, Bloom withblue blossoms." " Father heaven,0 take! " &c. " Tree of the northern rock Spread out fronm tlhy branches, Taking a blue colour Bloom withblue blossoms." .'Father heaven,0 take! " &c.1
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Mr. Pozdnyeev has copied from Castren's Buryat grammar another specimen of a shamanist pirayer. It differs fromthe foregoing in that it was uttered at public worship (kerek) and was not called forthby a private accidental demand. It begins by referring to various gods giving authorityto the shaman's invocation. Then it goes onias follows: "At thiswas present(here the name ofa spiritinvokecl is given).
? "At theinvocationbylp(a certainspirit). "We invokelong, life, We inivoke long prosperity, We invokea skinl a chetvertthick, We invokelife strong as iron, We invoke the effectiveniess of sacrifice, Entranceinto a happyfate, We invokethe driving away of infection, The healingof sickness, We invokewealthin flocks, We invokea numerous progeny." " Make readyat once! "2
Amnong the Altaians.-In various cornersof the Altai Mount,?iins, among the Turkish tribes,Teleuts, Altaians and Chernev Tatars' the kams,or shamans, tenaciously preserve all the traditions and ceremoniesconnectedwiththeircalling. Mr. Potanin was fortunate enough to observeseveral cases ofkaamlanie. A verycuriousinstance was that of a young slhamannamed Enchu, who lived in an aul on the river Talda, six versts fromAni,udai. His kamlanie consisted of four parts: 1. Before the fire, sitting with the face towards it; 2. Standing with the back to the fire; 3. A pause, duringwhich the 7kam, leaning on the side of his tambourine,narrated all that the spirits had said or done; 4. Filially, he 7cam'd with his back to the fire,in frontof the place where the tambourine always haings,and undressed himself. Enchu said he did not remember what had happened to him while he was dancing with his back to tlle fire.
At that time he madly twisted his body without nmoving lhis feet;
he squatted down, writhedand straightenedhimselfout again, as if imitating the movementsof a snake. Owing to the rapid movement of the upper part of his body,the t-isted handkerchiefssewed on his dress spread out and whirled in the air, formingexquisite wavelike lines. Mi\eanwhile in various ways, he beat the tambouirine
I
Pozdnyoev, i, 289.
2Pozdnyeev, i, 280.
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and produced the most varied sounds. Sometimes Enlchu held the tambourine upside down, holding it horizontally, and struck it violentlyfrom underneath. Potanin's Angudai guides explained that the shaman was collecting spirits in the tambourine. When the kam sat with his back to the firebe was much quieter; sometimes be interruptedhis beating of the tambourine,conversed with somebody,laughed, thus indicating that he was in the company of the spirits. At one time Enchu sang slowly and pleasantly, while producing on the tambourine sounds similar to the trampling of horses' feet; the spectators explained that the shaman was riding his guards. wNith On the Elegesha, Potanin was presentat the khamanie of an old female shaman in the aul of Uryank-hai. The yurta (or hut) was veryclose. Theshamanka's husband helped in thepreliminarypart of the ceremony: he ga-veher dress to her, dried the tambourine beforethe fire, threw juniper branches into the fire,&c. The distinctivefeaturesofthisperformance, as comparedwithEnchu's,were delirium and spasms; throwingaway her tambourine, sae began to drag herselftowards those who were sitting in the yurta,showing:o her teeth,and stretchingout her fingers to make themlook like the claws of a beast; then she fell with a crash on the ground,and her head almost struck the hearthstone. As she lay on the floor she twisted herself about, and tried to gnaw with her teeth the hot stones around the hearth. Her husband held up her head, and muttered: " Stinkard ! " According to the Altaians, the procedure varies among the different hams.1 A shaman's journey to Erlik's realm.-But Erlik, the malicious ruler of the underground realm, always plays an important part, and Mr. Potani:nhas writtendown,fromFather Chivalkov's account, a storygiving a full and dramatic descriptionof a kam'sjourneyto Erlik's abode. The shaman begins his travelsfrom the place wherehe is performing. He describes his entry. The road runs southward. The kam passes throughthe neighbouringdistricts, climbs over the Altai, and describes,in passing, the Chinese land with its red sand; then he rides over a yellow steppe across which a magpie cannot fly. "With songs we shall traverse it! " cries the kam to his and drawls out a song; the young braves mountwithhim, followers, and accompanyhim in song. Afterthe yellow steppe comes a wancoloured steppe, over which no raven has ever flown,and the ham again incites his followers to make merrywith song. Beyond these two weary steppes is the iron nmountain, Temir Shaikha, whose summit reaches heaven; the kam tells his followers that concord is necessary for this dangerous ascent. Then the hoam describes the difficultasceint of the mountain,pretendsto climb, and when the top is reached breathes heavily. On the mountainhe sees the bones of hams who have failed to reach the summit for want of power. " On the mountainsmen's bones lie heaped up in rows; the mountainsare piebald with the bones of horses." Then, leaving the mountainisbehind, he rides up to a hole which leads
1 Potanin,iv,60-62.
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" thejaws oftheearth." On entering intotheunderground world, he finds a sea, over whichis stretched a hair. To give a visible ofhis passageover representation thisdangerous theshaman bridge, from totters side to side,and seems sometimes to be on thet point of falling. At thebottomofthesea he views thebones of many fallen shamans,for a sinfulsoul cannotcross the hair bridge. the kammeetsseveralsinners When he reachesthe othershore,
to their guilt, e.g., an eavessuffering punishments corresponding dropper is fixedwith his ear against a pillar. Finally the shaman rides up to Erlik's abode; he is met by dogs; at first the porterwill not let the kamr pass, but he is at length appeased with presents. Before the ceremnony begins, pots of home-brewed beer,boiled beef, and skunk skins are preparedforthis purpose. Afterreceiving the gifts,the porter lets the travellerinto the yurta of Erlik. Hereupon the /cam goes up to the door ofthe yurtain which the performto believe that he is approaching ance is taking place, and affects Erlik, who is sittingat the other end of the yurta; he bows, and puts his tambourineagainst his forehead, saying," Mergu! mergu 1" and then tells whence and why he has come. I'hen the kamcries out; this means that Erlik has noticed him, and has cried out from anger at his coming. The alarmed kamn runs back to the door, and then again approaches Erlik's throne. He repeats this manceuvre three times, and then Erlik says, " Those that have feathers fly not hither,those that have bones walk not hither; then black, ill-smellingbeetle, whence comest thou ? " The sage shaman explains who he is, and treats the lord of hell to wine; in doing this, he pretendsto take wine from the pots, fills his tambourine, and presents it to Erlik-Khan. Then he represents the Khan drinkingthe wine, and hiccoughs in his stead. After slaking the Khan's thirst, he offers hinm an ox,which has been previously killed, and the use of a collection of furs and clothes taken from the chests and hunig on a rope; iouichingthese things with his hand, the sorcererhands them over to the khan, and says, "May this toluof varied shapes, which cannot be liftedby a horse, be for clothes on thyneck and body." B:ut these things are left with the master of the house. As each thingis handed over,the tambourine is tapped. Erlik becomes drunk,and the kam mocks the drunken god. The propitious deity now gives his blessing to the suppliant, promises to multiplycattle, and even reveals wlhatmare will bring fortha colt, and how it will be marked. The kar joyfullyreturns lhomeward, not on a horse, as before,but riclingf on a goose, and he walks about the yurtaon tiptoe,as if he were flying. He imitates the cry of a goose. The kamlanie comes to an end, the shaman sits down, somebodytakes the tambourine out of his hands, and beats on it thrice. The kani goes on beating his palm or his breast with his drum-stick,until it is taken away from him. After this the karnrubs his eyes as if he were awaking,. He is asked, " What sort of ride had you ? How did you get on?" And he replies, " I have had a successful journey! I was well received ! "I
1 Potanin,iv, 64-68.
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and Songsofan AltaianKamz Ceremonies whileSacrificing toBaiof thekern a conjurer Yidgen.-The activity as a sacrificer, up of is manifested most brilliantly in the spirits,and a soothsayer, a great sacrifice ceremonies attending to the celestialdeity, BaiYulgen, who dwells on the golden moountain in thesixteeilth heaveni. All thesongs and invocations werewritten downin thefifth decade at the AJtai ofthepresenit and werepublished century, mission, by the priestVerbitskii. Mfr. Radloff madea translation, and gave a full accountofthis festival, which is keptfromtimeto time by everyfamily. The festival takesplace in theeveningsof two or threedays. On the first eveningbeginsthe preparation forthe selects a spot in a birch thicketin a little sacrifice. The kams meadow, andthere he places a newanld ornamented yurta. In the yurtatheyput a youn(r birchwith the foliageon it; the lower branches are loppedoff close to thetrunk; on one of the topmost a flagis hung. At thebottom branches ofthetreethey cut onthe trunk, withan axe, ninesteps(tapty). Roundtheyurta a penfold is made,as if for cattle; oppositethe door of the yurtais the entrance ofthe courtyard, and bythe elntrance is a birchstickwith a nooseofhorse-hair. Then theychoosea horseagreeableto the and the kam has it held by a special personchosenfrom deity, and calledBash-tutlhan amongthosepresent, i.e.,holderofthe kis7.hi, head. The shaman takes a birch twig and waves it over the horse's back, thus drivingthe soul of the sacrificed animal to Yulg,en, at the same timethe Baslh-tutkan's sounl accompanies it. The assembling in.the tambourine ofspirits takesplace withgreat the kam?, summnons and with a solemlnity; each spiritseparately, groan replies, " Here am I also, kam! " at the same time as if taking movingthe tambourine the spiritinto it. Whenhe sits theseassistalnts, goes outsidetheywr'ta, has assembled the kaanc in theform downon a scarecrow of a g,oose, and moving botharms he slowlysingsin a loud voice: like wings, rapidly
"Below the whitesky, Above the whitecloud, Below tbe blue sky, Above the blue cloucl, Mount,0 bird,to the sky!
a noise as if the noose were catching hamw neiglhs, kicks, and nmakes throws down his tamhim by the threat, pulls, tind somnetimes that the horse has freed itself and run away. bourine as a sig,ni it with juaniper Finally, having recaptured the pura, he fuimjigates and discards the goose. Then the animal clestinedfor sacrificeis brought, the ham blesses it, and, with the aid of some of the
To all the speechesof the shamant1he goose repliesby quacking, "Uzgaai ak ga7o,ungai gaic,kaigai yak ga7.-, kaigai gak." The ofthe goose'svoice. ofcourse, does thisimitationi shamanhimself, stee(dthe kaimpursuesthe soul, pura, of the On his fetathered withthe aid of sacrificed horse,and neighslike a horse; finally, to the birchstickwith lhedrivesit to thepenfold, the spectators, ofthe animal'ssoul. The the guLardian the noosewhichrepresents
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kills it in a most criielmanner. The bones and skin bystanders, become the sacrifice, and the flesh is eaten up, with various thekarm the choicest receiving portion. ceremolnies, takes place on the The mostimportant part oftheperformance thatthe kainmustdisplayall second day,aftersnnset; it is theni his power and all his dramaticart. A whole religiousdramais to Bai-Yulgenin ofthe karn's performed, descriptive pilgrimiage the shamanfeedsthe lordsof heaven. A fire burnsin thleyurta, thetambourine, the shamanistic i.e.,thespirits, personifying power and thensings: ofhis family, withthemeatofthe offering,
0 Kaira Khann! "Accept tlhis, withsix bosses, Masterof the tamboturine Come to me amid the tinkling! If I cry' Chokk!' bow tlyself! If I cry 'Me ! ' acceptthis! "
With a similar invocationhe addressesthe masterof the fire, representing thepowerofthefamily oftheownerof theyurta, the ofthefestival. Raisinga cup,thekarn with hislipsmakes organiser a noiseas ifinvisible and weredrinking, and guestshad assembled and gives themto thespectators, he cutsup themeatintomorsels who greedilygulp themdown,as representatives of the unseen spirits. Fumigating withjuniperninegarments, hungon a rope and deckedwith ribbons, whichthe masterof the houseoffers to Yulgen,thekamn sings:
"Gifts whichno horsecan carry, Alas! Ala's! Aidas! Which no nian can lift, Alas! Alhas! Alhas! Garmlents withthreefold collars, Turn themoverthreetimesand look at them, Let thembe a coverforthe racer, Ala's! Alas! Ala's! Prince Yulgen full of gladness! Aldas! Alas! Alas!"
When the kam has donned his shaman's dress,and caref ully his tambourine, he sits downon a benich, fumigated acnd, striking his tambourine, summo-ns anid secondary; manyspirits, primary on behalfof each he answers" Here am I, ka?n!"' Towardsthe end of thisinvocation the shamanaddresses himselfto Merkyut, thebirdofheaven:
"Celestial birds,the fiveMerkyuts! brazenclaws, YouLwithmnighty The claw of the moonis of copper, And the beak of the nmoon is of ice; ofthe broad winigs, Mightyis the flapping The longf tail is like a fan, The leftwinghides the moon, The rightwing hiides the sun; of nine eagles, Thou, mother tlhotu fliest Without straying o-ver Yaik, Thou art not weariedoverEdil. Come to me withsong! Sporting, approachmy righteye!
" Sit onmy slhoulder! right
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The shamanimitatesthe cryof thisbird,and says: " Kagak, kak kak! kam,here I am! " He thenbowsdownhiisshoulders, as if crushedby the weightof a huge bird. As the numberof the the kaam beats moreloudlyoni spiritsassembled inereases, thetamso heavythathe staggers bourine, whichbecomes underit. After suchpowerful havingcollected and helpers, protectors theshaman walks several times round the birchplaced in the yurta,then and asks the porter kneelsin front ofthe door, spiritto granthim answerbeing given, a guide. A favourable he noisilycomes out and sharply beatshis tambourine; intothe middleofthe yurta, the upperpart of his bodyis shakenwith convulsive and movements, is heard. Then, with a peculiar muttering, an unintelligible the shamanpretends motion ofhis dram-stick, to scrapefrom the back of the masterof the house all that,is unclean,and thus to thebeliefofthe Altaians, liberates the soul,which, according is in the back, fromthe influenceof the wickedErlik. Then he theirchildren embraces the host,thehostess, and kinsfolL, in such touchesthe breast of each,whilethe a way that the tambourine backs. The shamanthus,withthe is heldbehindtheir drum-stick aid of all the spiritscollectedin the tambourine, them purifies that the hostilespiritcould bring fromall ills and misfortunes the people returnto their upon them. Afterthis purification, out of places,and the shamandrivesall the potentialmisfortunes doors. Then he puts his tambourine close to the host's ear,and withblows on thissacred instrument drives intohimthe spirit and thus preparing himto receiveand underpowerof hisforefathers, stand the succeedingpropheciesof the shaman. Indicatingin pantomime thathe is i-nvesting thehost, hostess andall themembers and bats,the kan passes into a with breast-plates of the family state ofecstasy; he jumps,knocksagainstthosewho are present, on the firststep cut out ofthebirch and suddenly placeshimself the tambourine, trunk, at the sametime raising, it with thumping " gok,gok! " All theshaman'smoveall his might, and shouting ments indicatethathe is rising to the sky. In a joyousecstasy he runsroundthe fireand the birch, the sound ofthunder, imitating and thenwith conivulsions he runs up to a bench coveredwith a horse-cloth.This represents the soul of the pura,thesacrificial it and cries: mounts l-orse; the kam
onestep, " I havemounted Aikhai! aikhai! I haveattained onezone.
Shagarbata! I have climbedto the top of the tapty (the birchsteps), Shagarbata! I lhave risento the full moon. Shagarbata! "
one zone of heaven after The shamanpassesthrough another, and to hurry. In the thirdzone,the pura is ordersthe Bash-tutkan tired out, alnd,to relieve it, the karn calls the goose, whichhe reliefis of no avail; the shaman, mounts. But thistemporary on
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makes a lonig speech in a tearful tone, behalf of the Bash-tutkan, telling of his exhaustion,and that of his steed. In the third space of heaven there is a halt, and the shaman tells the audience of all he has seen and heard in that zone; here it is that informationis given about approaching changes in the weather, impending sickness and epidemics,misfortunesthat are to befall neighbours, sacrificesto be offered by the district. In foretelling rainyweather, for instance, the karnsings: "Kara Shurlu sixstaves, witli
Drips on the low ground, Nothingwithhoofscan protect itself, Nothingwith claws can uphold itself."
The kam may also make similar prophecies in other regions of the sky,at his discretion. AfterthieBash-tutkanis rested,the journey is continued; before each heaven, the shaman mounts on the next various step of the birch tree. To give varietyto the performance, episodes are introduced: firstthe karakush, a black bird in the service of the kam,is treatedto a pipe of tobacco, then the karakush chases the cuckoo; during this, the shaman coo-cooes, and imitates the reportof the karakush'sgun; in the thirdplace, he waters the pura horse, and imitates the sound of a horse drinking. In the sixth sphere of heaven takes place the last episodical scene, and this has a comic tinge. The shaman sends his servant Kuruldak to track and catch a hare that has bidden itself. For a time the and one of chase is unsuccessful,new personages are initrodaced, them, Kereldei, mocks Kuruldak, who, however,at last succeeds in catching the hare. The fifthheaven is particularlyinteresting, for there the kam carries on a long conversationwith the mighty Yayuchi (supreme creator),wlho reveals to him many secretsof the future. Some of these things the shaman communicates aloud, others he muttersrapidly. In the sixth heaven he bends beforethe moon,who dwells there, a,ndin the seventh,beforethe sun. InL a similar manner the karm makes his way to the eighth, ninth heaven, &c. The morepowerful the kam is, the higher he mounts in the celestial regions; there are some, but few, who can soar to the tenth,eleventh, twelfth, and even higher. When be has reached the summit of his power, the kam stops, drops his tambourine,and, gentlybeating with his invokes Yulgen in a humble prayer: drum-stick,
"Lord to whomthreeladderslead, ownerof threeflocks, iBai-Yulgen, The blue slope whichhas appeared, The blue skywhichshowsitself, The blue cloud whichwhirlsalong. Inaccessibleblue sky, Inaccessiblewhitesky, Place a year'sjourneydistantfrom water, Father Yulgen thriceexalted, Whomthe edge of the moon'saxe shuns, Who uses the hoofof the horse. Thou, Yulgen, hast createdall men,
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Who are stirring roundabout us, Thou, Yulgen, hast endowedus withall cattle, Let us not fall intosorrow! Grantthat we may resistthe evil one! Do not show us IKermes (the evil spiritthat attendsman) Give us not overinto his hanids! Thou who the starry sky Thousa-nds and thousandsof timeshast turned, Condemnnotmy sins! "
or not, and receives the most authentic informiiation concerningthe weather, arnd the character of the coming harvest; he also finds out wlhatsacrificesare expected by the deity. On such an occasion the shaman designates the neighbour who is bound to furnish a sacrifice, and even describes the colour and appearance of the animal; Mr. Radloff remarks that the 7kamis not wholly disinterestedin these cases. Afterhis conversationwithYulgen, the ecstasy of the shaman reaches its highest point, and he falls down takes thetambourineand drum-stickout of his ha-nds. The shaman is quite motionless and silent. After a short time, during which quiet reigns in the yurta,the shaman seems to awake, rubs his
eyes, stretches himself, wrings ouit the perspiration from his shirt, and salutes all those present as if after a long absence. Sometimes the festival ends with this great ceremony, but more frequently, especially among the wealthy, it lasts another day, sumed.' completely exhausted. Then the Bash-tutkan goes up to him, a-nd
learns whether the sacrifice FromYulgenthe shamani is accepted
which is spelit in libations to the gods, and feastilig,during which an enormous quantity of kunziiys and other strong drink is conof the journeyings The account,giveu above in anlabridged form, and spirit-raisingp of an Altai shaman, is taken from Mr. Radloff's detailed description, and is the most exhaustive and complete picture we have of the fantasyof the Siberian shamanists,and is consequently of great value for the comparative ethnographical study of our subject. The tambourineand drurn-stic-.-The shaman, as mediator in dealings with the spirit world, must, during his functions,bear people. The most important appurtenances of the professionare the tambourine and drum-stick,and the various parts of the shaman's dress. The tambourine is met with amongst almost all the Siberian tribes who have shamans; besides its power in calling up spirits, it has the miraculous power of carrying the shaman. Pota-nin dwells in detail on the shamans' tambourinesamong MHr. the Altaians, and compares them with the tambourinesof the other circular; but, according to Mr. Yadrintsev, all those used among the Chernev Tatars are oval. The tambourine consists of a hoop or rim, of a palm in breadth, with skin stretched over it on one
1
outward
sigi1s to
distinguish
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Siberian peoples.
All the tambourines seen by Mr. Potanin were
Radloff: " Aus Siberien,"ii, 20-50.
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two verticalcross side; on the concaveside of the tambourine ironcrosspieceare fixed. The piecesof wood and one horizontal woodencrosspieceis calledby the Altaiansbar,but othertribes ofa spindlebroadening give it other names. The barhas theform is shapedlike a humanhead), at at the upperend (the broadpairt a fork, thelowerendit forms resembling legs.' On theupperpart, is eyes,a nose,mouthand chinare marked. The ironcross-piece itisanironrod onwhicui calledkrish (bow-string) amongtheAltaians; in Altaian; the numberof these called ktungru are iron rattles, or less according to therankof the 7am. Their is greater rattles or spirits, withthat of the chaltus, numbercorresponds subjectto thereare small sword-shaped the shaman. Besides the kungrus, to therighta,nd fixedon theinnerside ofthetambourine, trinkets ofthe hoopor rim are leftofthe head ofthe bar. Oii theoutside smaller. On the bosses about the size of a bean,and sometimes arefastened bandsofnarrow underthebeardofthebar, bow-string, and theseare calledyalama. On theskinofthetambourine, cloth, on the inner side only,are on both sides,sometimes sometimes to Mr. Yadrintsev's in redpaint. According drawinogs description, of theChernev and Kumandinsk Tatarsdiffer thetambourines from has no representation thoseoftheAltaians; thevertical cross-piece of a humanface,and is onlya plainpieceof wood. On the outer are drawings ofthe Chernev Tatarsthere side ofthetambourine of line separates it intotwounequal animalsand trees. A horizontal and on it is figured a bow, parts; the upperpartis thelarger, tllo belt. Withinthe bow are endsof whiehrest on the horizontal and on each ofthemsitsa karagush twotrees, bird; to thre leftof one lioht,the sun,the otherdark,the the trees are two circles, arefrogs, a lizard, moon. Underthehorizontal and a snake; stripe on the cross stripeand thebow are stars.2 A certainkaingave Mr. Klements some curious explanations of thepictures on a tambourine. (A) Lowerpart of the tambourine. (1) Bai-7azyn(paintedin white), literally"the rich birch." This is the namegivento thebirches at which theyearly sacrifices take place. (2) Uluq-bai-kazyn (in whitepaint). Two treesthatgrowin Ilkhan'skingdom. (3 and 4) Ak-baga(white frog), Kara-baga (black frog), certainspiritswith seven nests and seven (5) Chzhity-us, feathers. (6) Chzhity-kyz (sevenmaidens),who let loose sevendiseases againstman. (7) Ulgere;he is invokedin case ofdiseasesof theteethanid ears. (8) Ot-imeze, signifying" motherof fire."
1 Figs. b and c on p. 18, vol. ii of Radloff's" Aus Siberien." , Potanin, iv,42-43.
servants of Ilkhan.
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Anthropological iscelltnea and lVewBook-s. (B) Upper part of the tambourine. (1) Solban-ir(translated by the kamas " dawn"). (2) Kyun, thesun. two black birds; they (3) ike-karagus, on errands from tho fly shamanto the devils. (4) Aba-tyus (bear's tyus, whatever thatmaymean). the horsesofIlkhan. (5) Sugyznym-karagat, He is invokedwhenmensetout forthe (6) Kyzyl-k7ikh-khan. chase.
The remaining withwhitecolour, figures, painted are thebeasts chasedbykyzyl-kikh-khan. onthetambourines Thesepictorial havea peculiar representations interest for us; they are intimately connected with shamanist of shamanist beliefs,and would throw light on the mysteries necromancy, but,like all pictorial signs,thesedrawings needto be explainedby personsintimately acquaintedwith the ideas and factsto whichtheyrefer. We have as yet but few materialsof thiskind,and mustrestrict ourselvesto the vaguestconclusions, e.g.,thattheterrestrial and underground worldsare portrayed on the tambourine, separated by a horizontal band. Mr. Potanin in the Ostyak tambourine notessucha division ofwhichhe gives a drawing in his book.2 If we werein possession ofmoreof these pictorial materials, and textslike that published by 0. Verbitskii, on thisimportant lightmight be thrown question, but so far,all explanationshave been rather of the nature of guess-work. theBuryats, thetambourine Among hasbeenalmost supplanted by the bell,and Mr. Khangalovonlysaw a tambourine in thehandsof oneshaman, who was an inexperienced beginner. If we mayjudge has thedimensions from this specimen, the Buryat tambourine and is stretched shape of a sieve; horse-skin upon it, and fastened behindwith smallstraps; therewere no drawings on it, either insideor outside, was bespattered but the surface withsomewhite the tambourine substance. According to Khangalov, amongthe Buryats has a symbolic meaning;it represents the horse which can convey he will. The Yakuts maketheir theslhaman whither circularform, and cover themwitl tambourines ofa lengthened cowhide. On the innerside are two iron cross-pieces, arranged crosswise, and forming a handle. The tambourine is hung with little bells and rattles; it serves the Yakut, like the Buryat as a horseon whichhe ridesto the spirit realm.4 shaman, But it is notall shamans whoattainthehigh honourof having a tambourine; frequently a long time passes during whichthe will notallow this magic instrument spirits to be made. Gmelin, forinstance, are notpermitted saysthatmanyBuryatshamans by
Elements: "Nyeskolko obraztsov bubnov minusinskikh inorodtsev.Zap. Vos. Sib. Otd. I. G. 0. P.," v,2, 26. 2 Potanin, iv, 680. 3 Agapitovand Khangalov, 4 t. 4 Pripuzov,65.
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to have a tambourine, and duringtheir kamlaiiie thedemons use two long sticks,striking them crosswiseagainst each other.' Perhapsit is to thiscause that we must attribute the fact that saw no tambourines among, Mr. Klhangalov the Buryat shamans, in one instance. With the decline of shamanism, excepting the numberof personsable to make this sacred instrument, duly
observing all the unknownceremoniesnecessary,becomes smaller; the process of kamlanie is simplified, and the will of the spilrits is made the excuse. As reoards the mallet with which the tambourine is beaten, it is sufficienit to observe that this in,strument is encased in skin of some sort,so that the sound may not be too sharp. Among the Altaians, forinstance,the mallet is coveredwith the skin of a wild goat or a hare.' Among certain tribes,e.g., Buryats, Soiots, KaTnandintses,Yakuts, they use for diviniingand for summoningspirits,a peculiar musical instrumnent giving,out a feeble,jarringsound.3 Despite all these,the tambourine continues to occupy the firstplace among shamianistinstruments. Shamanist dressand horse-sticks.-Theshamans put on a special dress only when they are engaged with the spirits; in private life they are not distinguished from other people by any outward signs. Shashkov considers the followinglist to compriseall those articles of dress which are commonto all the Siberian tribes: 1. An outer caftan; some of them are made of cloth, others of beasts' skins. They are hung with various rattles,rings, and representations of mythical anaimals. 2. A mask; am-ong the Samoyed ladibeis, its place is taken by a handkerchiefwith which the eyes are covered, so that the shaman may penetrate into the spiritworld by his inner sight. 3. A copper or iron breast-plate. 4. A hat, one of the chief attributesof the shaman.4 Gmelin describes the costumeof a Tunguz shaman, and points out that, in addition to the ordinaryshaman's dress, he also put on an apron hung with iron plates, bearing figures either sunk or in relief. His stockings were of leather, and trimmed with iron. He had no hat, for his old one had been buirnt,and the deity will not give a new one. This shaman put on his dress over his shirt.5 The Yakut shamans adorn their furcoats with representations of a, sun with holes in it, ainda half uloon,thus indicating the twilight that reigns in the spirit land. The coats are hiungwith monstrous beasts, fishes, and birds, as a sign that there are monstersin the spiritworld. Behind hangs an iron chain, which, in the opinion of some, shows the strengthand endurance of the shaman's power,while othersthinkit is the steering gear for the journey to the spirit land, The iron plates serve as a protection against the blows of malevolentspirits. The tuftssewed on the fur coat signifyfeathers.6 The travellers of the eighteenth century
2 Potanin,iv, 48. AgapitovanidKhangalov,43. 4 Shashkov, 86. 5 Gmnelin, ii, 193. 6 Pripuzov, 65. Mr. PripLzov's descriptionagrees in tien mainwith that given by Mr. Shchukinin his " Poyezdkav Yakutsk,"1833,pp. 200 201. VOL. XXIV. G 3
1 Gxmelin, iii, 26.
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ofthe shamanls. to thedress and accessories paid great attention of a Buryat shairnanka in detailthecostume Pallas describes that and twoBuryats, each he saw; she was accompanied byherhusband ornawitha magictambourine. She heldin herhandstwosticks, ofa horse's at theupperendwitha represe-ntation mented head,and therehung down her withsmallbells. Fromhershoulders hunag back to the ground about thirtysnakes made of black and in such a waythat the snakes looked sewed togeLher whitefur, of black and whiterings. One of the as if they were formed called snakes was divided into threeat the end, it is tlherefore to be an indispensableornament of lyuga,and is considered every Baruat shamanka. Her hat was coveredby an iron like thehorns fromwhichrose hornswith threeantlers, helmet, ofa deer.' ofa muchrespected visitedtheyurta Gmelin Buryatshamanka near Selenginsk. Her dress consistedof all the rags she could hanground her; mostoftherags weremorethana yardlongand about 7 inches wide; almost everyrag was adornedwith emand tassels. A box and hungwithsilk strings broidered images, was fullof clouts.flintsand meteorites. whichstoodin the y'urta servedforhealingpurposes; there was also a felt All these things bag fulloffelt idols ofvariousshapes.2 The shaman'scostume, in theyutrta, hanging was,she declared, incomplete. These scanty of formertravellersmust be compared with the descriptions ofmodern In theexhausscientific investigations ethnographers. tive workof MM. Agapitovand Khangalov thereis a systematic accountofan ancientcostumeof the Buryatshamans,whichis haldlyever met with nowadays. 1. An indispensable part of a was a fur cloak or orgoi, shaman'sbelonginlgs whitefor a white and blue fora black shaman, shamanwho dealtwithgoodspirits, of evil spirits. The orgoi is made of silk or representative in cut froman ordinary and doesnotdiffer furcloak; c)ttonstuff; on it are sewed metallicfigures ofhorses, birds,&c. Some cups, of a certain animal,and an idol in a rhombic representations as belonging Khangalov,with plausibility be considered to the nurnber ofsuch adornments.2. The hat amongtheshamansof the presentdayis oflynxskin,witha tuft ofribbons oa the top; a peakedcap is evenwornsometimes, butthetuift is indispensable. a fifth ablutiontheshamanreceives an ironhat3; it has the After ofa crown ofan ironhooptowhich form andconsists twohalf-hoops are fixed a small crosswise;onthetopofoneofthem is fastened iron plate,withthetwoendstuinedup to look like twohorns. Where thehalfhoopsjoin thehorizontal in three are fastened, hoopthere places,three kholbokho, i.e.,conicalpendants, and at theback ofthe lirnks united hoopis a chainoffour bysmallrings; ontheend ofthe chain hang objects resembiing, a spoon and an awl. 3. Horoe1 Pallas, iii, 181-182. 3 Fig. 3 in P1. III, Agapitovand Khangalov.
2
frame,which have beenifound, may, according to Agapitov and
Gmelin,ii, 11-13.
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all the Baikal Buryats; amongthoseof withamong, are mnet sticks Balagansktheydo notexist. The shaman has two horse-sticks; ofwoodor iron.' The ironsticks theyare madeeither areacquired like the iron cap, onlyafterthe fifthablution. by the shaman, on theeve ofthe first The wooden sticksare prepared dedication; theyare cut out of a growingbirch; an endeavouris made to in suicha waythatthe birchwill notwither. theexcision perform If thetreefromwhichthestickis takendies,it is considered an ill omenfor the shaman. A birchis selectedfromamongthose that growin the wood set apart for the burialof the shamans. witha horse'shead; at somedisThe top ofthestickis decorated thelowerend a horme's kneeis cut out,and the bottom tancefrom to the horsehas the formof a hoof. Some bells are fastelled and one of themis larger than the others. These sacred sticks, with hollow kholboko sticks are adorlned cones, ribbonsof four and red),skinsofermine, and colours(blue,white, yellow, squirrel small stirrups are and to makethemstillmorelike horses, skunk, differ fromtii hungon them. The iron sticksdo notessentially woodenones. The OlkhonskBuryat shamanshave also a s ti1'e, i.e.,shrine. This is a box about3 ft. 6 in. in lengtha,nd1 in. ill to the top of the lid, havinlg the formof a roof with a height, it is double slope. The box stands on legs about 28 in. hiiglh; bells aiid skins, and on oine ofthe lonigsides deckedwithribbonis,
are painted in red, or carved, representationsof men, animals an(d other things.' Usually, at the end, onithe right side, is a picture ot the sun, and on the left,the moon. The sun has the formof a wheel, and in the middle of the mcon is a human figuregrasping a tree. The central part of the plank is occupied by three human figures; one of them is a woman,the other two are men; these are the inferiordeities to whom they offerlibations of wine several times in the year. In a line with these are drawn two quivers, a case for a bow, a bow and a sword,and under each human figureis a horse. In the shireare kept the horse-sticks,tamnbourine, and various sacrificial instrunmients. Nil, Archbishop of Yaroslavl, mentions two other objects: abagaldei, a mnonstrous mask of leatlier, wood or metal, with a huge beard painted on it, and toli, a metallic mirrorwith figuresof twelve aniimals; it is worn on the beast or neck, and is sometimessewed on to the shaman's dress; at time these two objects ale hardlyever used by Buryat the presenit shamans.3 From Mr. Potanin's investigationsit would seem that the special has buen better preserved among the Altaian dress of the kamiis tribesthan amiong, the othler Siberian peoples,and he gives some very
curious information about this costume.
sists of the skin of a wild goat or reindeer; the outside is almost of various sizes, covered with a multitudeof twisted handkerchiefs
I
2
The shaman's dress coi1-
Fig. 2 in P]. IIT, Agapitovand Khangalov. Figs. 4 and 5, P1. III, Agapitovand Khangalov. Agapitovand Khangalov,42-44.
G 2
t4
ofsever al eredwithcloths snakes;theyareembroid whichrepresent withbrocade. Someof the handkerchiefs anid sometimes colours, are notsewedto the dressby the end,but in such a way that the and lookslike the head of a snake. On free, upperend remains ofeyes; on the thickerrolls, sewedimitations thisare sometimes thisend is slit,so thatthe snake'sjaws are open. The tailsofthe and on each end hangs a tassel; somelargersnakesare forked, timesthreesnakeshave a head in common. Besidesthesetwisted skinare sewedon to thle strapsof rci-ndeer narrow handkerchiefs, have a thousand ofnine. It is saidthatrichkams dressinbunches The small twisted snakesor twistedlhandkerchiefs. and seventy bytheAltaians;thisnameis also are calle(d handlkerchiefs many!ak and hanidkerchiefs appliedto the wholedress. Besidesthetwisted are rattles signsanid manyothersymbolic straps.i.e.,the manyaks, ofironare oftenmet triangles fixed to the dress. Stirrup-slhaped
trinketsare put, a small with, on one of the cornersof u hichiiront away evil spirits from the bow fittedwith an arrow to frighteni and some kholbogos. On the back, shaman during his kanvdanie, ed two others are sevx two rouLidcopperplates are sewed; sometimnes on the breast. Skins of small animals, such as ermine, striped and flyingsquirrel, are also sewed on with the manyal.s. squnirrel In the case of one kam,Mr. Potanirnnoticed four tobacco-pouches sewed on; these were feigned to be full of tobacco, though they were empty; the ka)n gives away t.histobacco to the spirits duringa his wanderingsin their country. The collar is trimmed with a fringeof the feathersof the white owl or brown owl; one shaman bad sewed to his collar seven small dolls, and on the head of each these dolls, the shaman said, was a plume of browtiowl's featlhers; do not were the celestial mairlens. In some dresses, the mzanyaks the collar to the waist, but a shred of cover the whole dress fromi cloth of some particularcolour, e.g., red, is sewed on, and to it are and frequently little Rusfastened round copper plates, kholbogos, sian bells; the wealthier kams lhave nine bells. The lnoise they make is asserted to bo the voice of the seven maidens sewed to the the spirit to come to thenm. collar, calliingol piece The hat; of an Altaian shaman is a squar-eor four-cornered skin; the frontis covered with cloth, or some of young reinideer's material. On oineside are sewed two brass other bright-coloured buttons, on the other are tsxobutton holes. Mr. Potanin saw a hat a golden the upper edge of which was adorned with featheis fromxi eagle or brown owl, arranoed in tufts; oni the lower pa-;t was a fringeof cowrie shells hung on stripsof skin. This piece of skin is to the back laid with its loweredge on tle brow; the sides are turtned something of the head, and it is buttonedat the back, tlhusforming the is narrow and stiff, like a Europeanitall hat. If the stripof skini upper part of it sticks straiglt up, and the plume gives the headdress the appearance of a diadem. Some Telent shamans make their lhatsof brown owl's skin; the wings are left as ornaments, and sometimes the bird's head is left onitoo. It is not all shamans who have the right to wear the manyak and the brown owl hat;
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duringtheceremony ofkamlaniethe spiritsreveal to their favourites that the time has come when they miay prepare this professional dress. Among the Chernev Tatars, the shamans sometimes use a mask (kocho),made of birch bark and ornamented witb squirrel tails to reFreseniteyebrows anld moustache. Among the sarne people MIr.Yadrintsev remarked the use of two crutches; one of thernwas considered to be a staff, the other a horse,like the horsesticks of the Buryat shamans.' All the separate parts of the dress of Siberian shamans, and their other professional belongings, liave a threefold significance, both separately and conijointly. The shamans, by the outward appearance of their costume, in consequence of its originality, endeavour to produce a strono impression on the spectators; the sound of the bells,metal trinkets, and rattleson the tambourine, and the stickswhichare struckagainst each other,agitates the audience, and puts them into a peculiar state ofmind. Finally, all the objects and ornamentsbelonging to the shaman have their definite meanino, sometimes even of a mystic character, intelligible only to and closely connectedwith their philosophy. shamnanists, How therankr of shtrman is attained.-It is not everyone who can become a shaman,and the position is bestowed, among the Siberian tribes,eitherby hereditary right or in consequence of a special predispositionmanifestingitself in a boy or youthchosen by the spirits for their service. Among the Trans-Baikal Tunguses, he who wishes to become a shaman declares that such and such a dead shaman has appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to be his successor; in addition, everyonebeforebecoming a shaman "shows himselfto be crazy, stupefied and timorous."2 According to the stories of the 'Funguses of Turukhansk,the man who is destinedto become a sorcerersees in a dream the devil " khargi" performing shamanistrites. It is at this timethatthe Tangus learns the secrets of his craft.3 The Yakut shamans and shamankas do not receive the magie talent by inheritance, although there is a tradition that if a necromancerarises in a familythe dionityis not transferred;they are preordained to serve the spirits whether they wish it or niot. " Emekhet," the guardian spiritof the dead shaman, endeavours to einterinto somie one among the kinsfolk of the deceased. The person destined to shamanism begins by raging lilkea madman; suddenly he gabbles, falls itito unconsciousness, runs about the woods,lives on the bark of trees,throwshimselfinto fireand water, lays hold of weapons and inijureshimself,so that he has to be watched by his family; by these signs they know that he will be a shamani; they then summon an old sharman acquainted with the abodes of tlle aerial and subterranean spirits. He instructs his pupil in the various kiiids of spirits,and the maGnner of sui-mmoning them. The consecrationof a shaman among the Yakuts is accomI
2
Potanin,iv, 49-54. " SibirskiiVyestnik," 1822, 39-40.
3Tretyakov,211.
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candidate stands with his face to the west, the old shaman prays the dark spirit to aid the novice, and expresses the hope that,the latter will not be left without an assistant spirit. Finally the instructorsings a sort of lhymin to the spirit of darkness, and the new shaman has to repeat a prayer after him. The spirits try the beginner, they demand his wife, his son, and he ransoms them with sacriticesand promisesto share the offerings with themn.4 In the southernpart of Siberia, among the Buryats,anybodymay become a shaman, but the professionis generally oilly followed by thlose who belong to a shamanist familyand have had ancestors, paternal or maternal,engaged in that occupation. Besides these, there are shamans specially chosen by the gods themselves; if anyone is killed by lightning, this is looked upon as a direct expression of the will of the gods, who thus indicate that the familyhas been selected by them; the deceased is consideredto be a shaman and is buried as such; his nearestkinsman lhasa right to be a necromancer. Stones that fall fromthe sky may also give a B-uryat shamanist power. It is said that a man once drank tarasum in which such a stone had been washed, and became a shaman in consequence. These fortuitous shamans are generally unfitted for this work, through lack of early training,and, owinig to their
I Pripuzov, " Kak i vo chto vveruyut 64-65. V. S-kii: Yakuty," " Sibirskii Sborniik," 1890, v. ii, 130. 2 Iretyakov, 3 211. Belyavskii, 113-114. " Tretyakov, 210-211.
to seniority butfitness, and conveys tothecho enoneall hisscience; the childlessleave theirprofessioni to friends or pupils. Those destinedto be shamans spend their youth in practiceswhich irritate theniervous system and excitetheimag,inlation. Tretyakov describesthe ordination of shamansamong the Samoyeds and of the Turukhandistrict. According Ostyaks to his account, the
by means of this symbol succeeds to his father's power.2 Among the Ostyaks, the fatherhimselfselects his successor,not according
ceremonies; theold shamanleadshis pupilon to paniedby certain a highbill or outintotheopenfield, himin shaman's clothes dr-ess, invests him withtambourine and dram-stick, places on hisright nine chasteyouths and on his leftnine chastemaidens, then dons his own dress,and,standing behindthe new shaman, causes him to repeatcertain words. Firstof all he demands that thecandidate shouldrenounce God and all thathe holdsdear,promising thathe will consecratehis whole life to the demonwho will fulfilhis prayers. Then the old shamantells wherethe various demnons dwell, what diseases each causes, and how he maybe appeased. Finallythe new shaman killsthe animaldestinedfor sacrifice., his dress is sprinkled with the blood, and the fleshis eatenby the of spectators.' Among throng, the Siberian and Ostyaks Samoyeds the shamans succeedto the postby inheritance to soni. from father On the deathof a shaman, his son who desiresto have power over thespirits makesof woodan image of the dead man's hand,anid
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ignorance, theyareguidedby old men,appointed forthispurpose, whoare experienced, arnd and prayers. But knowtheceremoniies usuially the dead ancestors who were sbhamans choosefrom their livingl kinsfolk a boywhois to inherit theirpower. This child is marked by specialsigns: he is oftenthoughtful, fond of solitude, a seerof prophetic visions, subjectoccasionally to fits, duriiig which he is uinconscious. The Buryatsbelievethat at such a time the boy'ssoul is withthespirits, who are teachinghim,if he is to be a white shaman,with the western spirits, if he is to be a black shaman, amongthe eastern spirits. Dwellingin thepalacesofthe gods,thesoul,uuder the guidance of the dead shamans, learnsall the secrets of theshamanist craft; it remembers thenamesofthe gods,their dwellingplace,the formsused in theirworslhip, anid thenames ofthe spirits tothese great gods. After enduring suibject trials, the soulreturns to thebody. Year by yearthe tendency of minid becomes morepronounced; the youthbeginsto havefitsof ecstasy, dreams and swoons become morefrequent;he sees spirits, leads a restless life, wanders aboutfrom villageto villageand tries to kam. In solitude he carries onshamanist exercises withenergy, somewhere in a forestor on a hill-sideby a blazing fire. He invokes thegods in ail unnatural voice, shamanizes, and frequently fallsfainting. His friends follow himat a distance t,o see thatno liarmbefalls him. As long as the future mediator between gods and menis prehis parents or kinsfolk paringfor his new duties, appeal for help to a skilled shaman; the y summon thegodsannd offer them sacrifices, prayingthat theirkinsmanmaycomesafely through the ordeal. If thefuture shamanbelongs toa poorfaimily, thewhiole community helpsto get animals forsacrifice andobjectsnecessary fortherites. The preparatory periodlastssomeyears;its length dependson the abilitiesoftheyouth. As a rulethe candidate does notbecomea shaman beforehe is twenty yearsof age. Before eintering upon his duties the candidatemustgo through a ceremony knownas body-washing.One ablution does notsuffice to give all therights ofthe office; the operation must be repeatedfromthree to nine times, butthe majority are satisfied withone or two; indeed, there are some who omitthe ceremony altogether, dreadingthe vast responsibility it brings, forthegodsdeal exceptionally severely with those whohave undergone consecration, and sternly punishwith deathanyseriousmistake. The firstceremony of consecration is preceded bywhatis calledthewater purification. For thispurpose an experienced shamanis selected, called thefather-shaman, and nineyoung men, calledhis sons,are appointed his assistants. The water fortheablution itis drawn must be springwater;sometimes from three springs. Theyset out forthewateron the morning of the daywhentheceremony is to takeplace; theytake withthem tarasun, and offer of the libations to the master and mistress spirits well. On the wayback theytear up by the roots youngbirch tiees,shootssprouting and from seeds,bind themup intobrooms, themto theyurta ofthe candidate. The wateris warmed in carry
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intoit juniper,wildthyme, throw and they a kettleon thehearth, it. Then theytake a goat whichis heldin barkto parify a-(dfir each hoof fromi cut a littlehairoffits ears,a fragment readiness, all thisintothekettle. Afterthis,the goat and throw and born, is killedin such a waythatdropsof its bloodruninto thewater, is given which is then readyfor the ceremony. The goat'sflesh first cookand eat it. The father-shamnan and they to the women, theshamanist he summons then ofa sheep, theshoultder from divines winleand tarasunas a and offers of the candidate, predecessors in the water he dipsthe birchbrooms sacrifice;afterthesacrifice on thenakedback; thesonsofthe soothsayer and beatsthefuture at thesametimesaying," When a poormanl shaman do likewise, and take what is given. calls thee, ask little of him in return, and praythegodsto protect helpthem, Have a carefor thepoor, and theirpower. If a richman call thee, evil spirits agairnst thiem and do notask muchforthyservices. If rideto himon a bullock, a richmanand a poor manboth sendforthee at the same time, go firstto the poor and then to the rich." The new shaman and repeatsthe wordsof a to observethese precepts, proimises is finished Whentheablution bythefather-shaman. uttered prayer and this spirits, to the guardian theymake a libation of tarasun is frequently coneludesthe ceremony. The water purification once a by thleshaman; it is compulsory subsequently performed and also on at thenew mootn, even monthly, year,but sometimes in anyway, defiled the shamanfeelshimself wvhen specialoccasions is very e.g.,by contactwith uncleanthings; whenthe defilement must bd by blood. The shamanalso grievousthe purificationj whenany deathtakesplace in the village. Some himself purifies called dedication, the first ofpurification, the ceremony time after are raised in takesplace,and large contributions kherege-khulkhe, and nine to coverthe expenses. A father-shaman the community begins with of dedication sunsare again chosen, and the ceremony his guide,and the nine ofthe shaman, on horseback, a procession, of In front to collectofferiligs. helpers,to theiracquaintances, totheinhabitants, theriders eachyurta stop,and cryouta summons and ofkerchiefs in theform andhangofferings them, entertain w1ho holdsin his hands; they the candidate which on a birch, ribbolns sometimes. Then theypurchasewooden cups, also give money and otherobjects,silk,wine,&c. On bells for the horse-sticks, the necessary theycut downin the forest thie eve oftheceremony ofthickbirches. Theyoungmencutthewood,underthe quantity birch and straight oftheold man. From a verystrong direction cut out twoplanks to makethehorse-sticks.They theycarefully thewood is takenfrom tree. All this timber also hew downa fir ofthe villageare buried. To feedthespirit theinhabitants wlhere of the wood,theybringsheep's fleshand tarasun. At the same and and thefather-shaman outfit, timethey getreadythe shaman's and invokethe prohis colleaguesfromotherplaces shamanize, of the day on whichthe ceremony teetinogods. On the morning in are putin the proper thetreesthathave beenbrought happens,
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a greatthickbirchwith of all theylay in theyurta places. 'First at thepoint handsouth-western its rootsstuckin theright corner, lies bareroundthehearth; thetop of the floor wheretheearthen the smokehole. Thisbirch outthrough treeis thrust symbolically intoheaven; theporter indicates godwhoallowstheshaman ingress and serves as a distinctive markof a it is left there permanently, the remaining abode. At the consecration, birchesare shaman's the hut,in the place wherethe ceremony will be placed outside from the east: 1. A birch in a certain performed, order, beginning under whichtheyplace,on a piece ofwhitefelt, tarasun, &c.; to red and yellowribbonsif theshaman the tree are fastened is a ifhe is a whiteshaman, whiteand blueribbons and blackshaman, if he is goingto servebothgood and evil spirits; colours all fouLr se thatis 2. A birchto whichtheyattacha largebell,and thehor to be sacrificed; 3. A birchtree,ofsufficient size, whichthe new three birches are calledserge (pillars), shaman mustclimb; all these in and theyare generally dug up bythe roots; 4. Nine birches, groups ofthree, boundround with a rope of whitehorse-bair, to ribbonsin a certainorder,white,blue,red, which are fastened and thenthesamecolours birches arehung yellow, again; onthese bark containing nine beasts' skins, and a tuyasof birch food; 5. theanimalsforsacrifice;6. Thick Nine poststo which fasten they tied thebonesof birches laid outin order; to theseare afterwards in straw. From the chiefbirchin the the sacrifices) enveloped two tapes are stretched, to all the birchesoutside, one red yurta road to thespirit and one blue; thisis a symbolof the shlaman's land. To the northof the rowof birches are placed nine great is cooked. kettles, in which themeatofthe sacrifice consecrated the newly shamana,ndthe other Whenall is ready, participators in the ceremony deck themselves, and proceed to the shaman'sinstruments consecrate ; it is then that the horsesticksare enduedwithlife; theyturn into living horses. From early morningthe shamans collectedin the yurta have been the gods,and sprinkling shamanizing, summoning tarasunt. After theold sha,man summons theceremony ofaspersion, theprotecting him the wordsof a and the youngshamani deities, repeatsafter he occasionally at thesametimle climnbs up the birchto the prayer, and there roofoftheyurta, loudlycallsupon thegods. Whenthe the ygurta tinme forissuingforthfrom is come,fourshamans take each a cornerof the piece of felt,and sing and wail; at the to the yurta, on the street, entrance and throw theykindle a fire, wild thymeon it. The fireserves to purify that is everything it. During the time spent in theiurta, human carriedthrough The procession, and inanimate beings objectsundergo purification. in a certainorder,goes to the place when the birch trees are arranged; in frontwalks the father-shaman; then comes the young shaman, followed bythe nine sons,the kinsfolk and guests. The essentialfeaturesof the consecration maybe considered the following:
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boy or girl is subject to fits,the Altaians are persuaded that one of its ancestors was a shaman. A kain told Potanin that the shamanistpassion was hereditary, like noble birth. If the karn's own son does not feel any inclination,some one of the nephews is sure to have the vocation. There are cases of men becoming slhamanis at their own wish, but these kams are much less powerful than those born to the profession.2 Thus all the preliminary developmentof the shamian,from his childhood to the time when he is consecrated to the professiorn of ktm or shaman, is of such a nature as to augment his innate tendencies,and make him an abnormalman, unlike his fellows. The cerernonyof consecr ation has a similar character; the shaman assumes an exceptional position,takes vows upon hiimself, becomes the property of spirits who, though s5Lbject to his summons,have yet full power over him. Cases in whtich necrormancers are applied to.-To these soothsayers, skilled in all the secrets of the world of gods and spirits, the superstitioussliamanist tribesmen,imbued with the gloomy ideas consequent upon their coarse animistic philosophy,address themselves in all the perplexitiesof life. All misfortunes, diseases, and death itself, are attributed by shamanists to the influence of external,supernaturalcauses, to removewhich everyeffort is made. It is not to be wonderedat that on the occasion of the great festivals connected with the sacrifices the shaman plays the chief part; he is then not so much a priest, a guardian of the ritual, as a
1 Agapitov aind Khangalo-, 44 52.
2
(1) Whenl the shamananointshimself withtheblood of the sacrificed kid,on the head,eyesand ears, (:2) Whenhe is carried on thefeltcarpet, and (3) Whenhe climbs and fromthe summit up thebirch, of the the dead yurta calls upon the gods and his kinsmen, shamans. The ceremony concludeswith various sacrifices and popular games' It will be seen, fromthe above description, that the consecration of a shaman is expensive,and accompaniedby sacrificial rites which produce onthebeholders a lasting impression, and givedignity to theprofession in thee-yes of theBuryats. in the Altai, Amongthetribes theability to shamanize is inborn; instruction only gives a knowledgeof the chants,prayersand external rites. The future kambegins to realize his destiny at an early age; he is subjectto sickness, and often fallsinto a frenzy. In vain do manyoftheelectstruggle againstthisinnate tendency, knowing thatthe life of a shaman is notan enviableone,butthis restraint brings greatersuffering upon them; even the distant soundsofa tambourine make them shiver. Those who have the ?hamanist sickniess endure physical tormnents; theyhave cramps in the armsand legs, until theyare s6ntto a kamn to be educated. The tendency is hereditary; a kamn often has children predisposed to attacks of illness. If, in a family where thereis no shaman, a
Potanin, iv, 56-57.
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necromrancer acquainted withthe sacrifcesagreeable to the gods, and the means of appeasing them. This characteristic of the is especiallyapparentfromthe cuistom shamans existing among the Turukhan Samoyeds of organisingan annual necromantic of winter, whenthe huntin,g ceremony.At the beginnincg season ends, diseases begin to prevail among the Samoyeds,and they decidein an assembly to watchthe that it is timeforthe shamanis road,for it will be bad if men beginto die. The shamansgive of " a clean chyum " (i.e., yurta theirconsent to thepreparation or hut),and everySamoyed helpsto mEake readythie rnaterials; they g,etpoles,bring reindeera-ndblack oxen forsacrifice; fromthe skins theymake coveringsfor the chyumand clothesfor the is built on the shore shamanis.The chy-,Um ofa lake,and has the formof an elongated tent on thetop of it, at thesouthern end, a woodenstatuerepresenting a theyplace,in an inclinedposition, in man or a reindeer. On the northside,the poles are fastened in the such a way that theyformsomething like a tail exteiided withreindeer's ofa fan; this tail is anoiinted form blood. Many traditions areconnected withthishut,and it is thesceneofvarious ceremonies, the most essentialof whichis the senior shaman's with games, entryinto it. The young people busy themselves and the eldestghostsongs,and dances, then theykill a reindeer, seer drinks its blood,and shamanizesin the presenceof theother assemblednecromancers and the older men. The ceremony hands.' concludes kissingoiieanother's bythe shamans and Gilyaks.-The Doings of the shamansamongthe Koryaks above description ofa cleanchyurn of the construction amongthe tribesof the Turukhanregion exhibits a fullview of the social and clearly dutiesof the sbamans, the greatimportalnce indicates of these guardiansofthe Black Faith. Althoughin manycases the shamans act as priests, and take part in popularand family festivals, prayersand sacrifices, their chiefimportance is based on the performance of dutieswhich distiniguish them sharply fromordinary of these gloomy priests. The essentialattributes mediators betweenmenand thedark hostilepowersof the spirit Mworld will becomeapparent on reviewing themostimportant cases in whichthechief tribes ofSiberiahave recourse to shamans. The Koryaks, accordingto Krasheninnikov, look upon shamans as and leeches, whoby beatingtheirtambourines driveawaydiseases, declare what sacrifices mustbe offered to the spiritsin orderto cure the patient. Sometimes theyordera dog to be slain,sometimes thelayingof twigs, and other similar outsidetheyurta. trifles, The Gilyakshamans, themselves withhealingthe also, busy chiefly sick,by means of invocations, tambourine playingand whirling round; at timestheycause the sufflerer to leap through thefire, but they do not despise drugs prepared fr-om plants,with the healing properties of which they are well acquainted. Besides theirmedicalduties, the Gilyakshamansforetell thefuture, bring
1 Trctyakov, 220-222.
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down rain, and do other things connected with their secret science.' Though at the present time,according to our missionaries, paganism among the Gilyaks and Golds is beginningto yield to Cbristianity,nevertheless,christened as well as pagan natives are still unable to give up the use of shamans and their fantastic rites. Twenty-fiveyears ago, shamanist ceremonies were in universal use among them, and no one could do without the shaman. At a birth or a death, when a Gold or Gilyak set,out on his winter huntingexpedition or when he wvent the shaman fishing, was in every case indispensable.2 Shamanvleeches among the Daurs and Mlanchzhurs.-Amongthe Manchzhurs and Daurs, on the banks of the Ainur River, notwithstandinig the extreme poverty of the people, their attachmentto the shamans, as doctors, is remarkable. Although the Russian doctors charge nothing for attenidance,and supply drugs almost fiee, the natives,in all diseases except fever,apply to the shamans, alttlough their services cost a great deal. These native practitioners live at the cost of the family until the patient has recovered,and insist upon the sacrificeof a pig worth fromtwenty roubles. The shamians cur-e all diseases except fever. to twenty-five from eight o'clock in the Each kamlanie lasts, with interruptions, evening until dawn. Duringfthe intervals the shaman fortifies himself with tea and tobacco. At the end, there is a feast of the sacrificed. During the kamlanie itself,in order to nerve arnimnals the shaman in his struggle with the demons, they give him khanshin.3 Healing ofdiseasesamongtheYakuts.-In recenttimes,much interesting informationhas been collected concerningthe Yakut shamans. In a long article on the beliefs of the Yakuts, a writer in the" Sibirskii Sbornik," calling himselfV. S-skii, describes in detail the sbamanism existingamong the natives. The shaman prescribes for all diseases, but especially Yakut maladies. The following diseases are looked uponi as Yakut: obscure inervous complaints, such as hysteria, madness, convulsions, St. Vitus's dance, also barrenness,puerperal fever and other diseases of women,diseases of the internal organs, all kinds of abscesses, wounds, headaches, of the eyes, rheumatic fever, inflammation typhoid,inflammation of the lungs and larynx. There are some diseases that the shamans refuse to treat, e.g., diarrhcea, searlatina, small pox, measles, syphilis,scrofula,and leprosy. They are especially afraid of small pox, and will not shamanise in a house where it has been. All diseases proceed fromevil spirits whohave settledin human beings, and their treatmentis intended to drive out or win over the unwelcome guests. The simplest method is that of healing by fire. In the Kolymsk district,a lad had an injured finger,which was painf ul, and occasionally broke out into an abscess. It was decided that the wicked spirit Er had taken possession of the finger.
I
2
Krasheninnikov, ii, 58-59. Deniker,294, 306. " Pribavleniek lrkutskim EparklialnymVyedomostyam," 1887, 267. V"ostochnoe Obozrenie," 1890, 20, 9; 32, C.
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Desiring to drive it thence,the patient took burning coal and blew it roundthe abscess. When the burnt fleshburst with a crackling sound, the patient, with a smile of satisfaction, remarked to the spectators, "Did you see him jump out? " Other domestic are the clanging of iron,loud cries, &c. remnedies to relieve sufferi-ng When simple treatmentof this kind is of no avail, theYakuts apply to the shaman; he acts as intercessor for the unfortunate,anid mediator between men and spirits when they come into collision. The oblioations he takes upon himselfare not light,the strugglehe entersupon is a dangerous one. The authorof the article describes ritual which is invariable. The shaman that part of the shainranist called in to visit a patient takes the post of honour,in the corner on the righthand wall, when one is looking towards opposite the fire the chimneyhole and the door. Stretchinghimselfout on his white and the hour when he mare's skin,the leech lies waiting for niight, may begin his sorcery. All this time he is treated with deference, and supplied with food and drink. At length, when the sun has set, and the hut begins to be dark, hasty preparations are made: they chop wood, make faggots,and cook an exceptionallyabundant and choice supper. Gradually the neighboursarrive,and take their places on the benches along the walls, the men on the right side, the women on the left. Conversation is carriedon in a very sober manner,the movementsof the visitors are slow and gentle. When all are at supper, the shaman sits up on the edge of his pallet, slowly unplaits his hair, in the meantime muttering somethiing, and occasionally giving various orders Sometimes he nervously hiccoughs,artificially, and then his whole body tremblesin a strange way. The sorcerer'seyes do not look about; they are either cast down or fixed motionlesson one point, generally on the fire. The firegraduLally becomes dull, thick darkness fills the hut, the door is shut, and there is almost comiplete silence. The shaman slowly takes offhis shirt and puts on his wizard's coat, then, taking a lighted tobacco pipe, he smokes for a long time, and swallows the smoke. The hiccoughs become louder,the tremblingmore alarming. When the shaman has finishedsmoking,his face is pale, his head has fallen far forward,and his eyes are half shut. In the meantime,the white mare's skin has been laid in the middle of the but. The shaman takes a jar of cold water, drinks a few large gulps, and, with a slow sleepymotion,seeks on the bench the wlbip, or drum-stickprepared for him. Then he goes out into the twigf middle of the hut and, bending his right knee four times, makes a solemn bow to the four sides of the universe; at the same time he spurts water from his mouth, all round. A tuft of white horse hair is throwninto the fire,which is then put out. By the faiiiu glimmerof the smoulderingcoals, one can still see in the darkness, for a short time, the motionless figureof the shaman sitting with downcast head, holding in frontof his breast, like a shield, a large tambourine. His face is turnedto the south. All the people who are sittingon the benches hold their breath, and nothing is heard in the dar-kness save the indistinctmutteringand hiccoughs of the
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wizard. At last thesesoundsalso cease; for a moment complete thereis hearda singleya,wn, silencereigns. Soon after, sharpand metallic in sound,and then, in sonlepartofthe darkhut, a falcon and clearly, criesloudly or a sea-mew utters a piteouswail. After the tambourine another interval, begiiisto make a slightrolling noise,like thobuzzing of mosquitoes:the shamanhas begun bis music. At first it is tender, soft, vague,thennervous a,nd irregular like the noise of an approaching storm; it becomeslouder aiid moredecided. Now and then it is broken by wild cries; ravens croak,grebes laugh,sea-mewswail, snipes whistle,falcons and the strokes on thetameaglesscream. The musicbecomes louder, bourinebecomecontfused in one continuousrumble; the bells, rattles and smalltaborssouind ceaselessly. It is a delugeofsounds capable of driving away the wits of the audience. Suddeuly everything stops; one or twopowerful blows oii the tambourine, and then it falls on the shaman'slap. Silence at once reigns. This process is repeated, with slight variations, several times. When the shamanhas workedup his audience to a sufficient pitch, the rhythm of the musicis changed, and it is accompanied by broken phrasesofsong,gloomy in tone: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (I1) (12) (13) (14) (15) Powerful bull oftheearth! . . Steed ofthesteppe! I am thepowerful bull . . . I roar! ! I neigh . . . steedofthe steppe I am a manplaced aboveall! I am a mangifted above all! I am a man created by the lord powverful among the mighty! Steed ofthe steppe, appear! Teach me! Magic bull ofthe earthappear! . Speak! Mighty lord,command me! with whomI go, hear with the ear! May everyone Let no onefollowme to whcmI say not-come! Henceforth, come no nearerthanis allowed,let everyone look witha keeneye! . . Let himbe quicktohear! Have a care of yourselves! Look to it well! . . Be all such,all together all, as manyas thereare ofyou! Thou on the lefthand, lady with the staf, if it happen that I wander,or take not the rightroad,I pray thee direct me! Get ready! Show me mymistakes andshowme the road,my mother! Fly witha freeflight! . . Clear mybroadpatlh! Spiritsof the sun, mothers of the sun, dwellingin the in theninewoody south, knolls, youwho willenvy Ipray youall . . . let themstandc let youar tbreeshadowsstandhigh! In the east, on his mountain, is the lord my grandsire, in strength, mighty thickofneck-be withme! And thougreybeard, mostworthy of wonder-workers (the
(16) (17)
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withoutexfire) I praythee: approveall mythoughts ception,grant all my wishes . . . hearkeni! Fulfil! . . All, all fulfil! The ritualused by the Yakut shamans is always the same. ofit-one longerand one abridged. It is Thereare two forms that we have given. The remainder ofthe ceremony the latter is an improvisation tocertain casesandcertain adapted When persons. the shaman, has brought down upon himself by his singing, his to skipanid move abouton his skinmat, guardian he beg,ins spirit, thus beginning the secondpart of his dramiatic performance. The fire has beenmade up again,andits bright illumines the gleam hut,whichis nowfullofnoiseand movement. The wizard ceaselesslydances, firstturning to the sinosand beatshis tambourine; soutb, thento the Best and east,he madly lumps and contorts hi'nself. The timea,nd stepof his dance somewhat resemble the and lacking in boldness. Finally Russiantrepa&k, butit is faster, the shamanhas learnt all he needs to ktnow; he has discovered whocausedtheillness, and has assured himself of the supportof the powerful spirits. Then beginsthethirdpartof the performance. Whirling,, dancing,and beating th-etambourine, the shamanapproaclhes thepatient. Withfresh he expels invocations it out, or suckingit out of thecause of thedisease,frightening the diseased place withhis mouth. When the disease has been drivenout., the shamantakesit intothe middleofthe hut,and, after manyinvocations, thehut, spits t out,drivesit from kicksit away or blowsit fromthe palmofhis hand farup intotheskyor undertheearth. But it is notsufficient to driveout thedisease: it is indispensable toappeasethe godswhohave relieved the sufferer, and the shaman decides what sacrifice must be offered to the mighty spiritsof heaven. At thetermination ot the ceremony, the shamansits down again on his niare's skin, and sings and plays,the spectators lifthim and his mat back to the place of honour whichhe occupied at thebegiinning.' Dirinationandpropitatory invoca,ions ofthe Yakutoyunis.-Side
by side with the healing of diseases is divination,with its various ceremonies. Gmelin refersto prophecyamong the Yakuts, accom-
paniedby thefollowing methods:the shamantakes a ring or a coin,and holdsit in themidstofthepalm ofthe enquirer, moving it about in various directions as if examining it,and thenforetells the future.2In an articlein the " Sibirskii Sbornik," we are told thatthe Yakut shamansaccomupany the foretelling of the future withdramatic performances like those used in healing the sick.3 Thesenecromancers are calledin in all cases whenit is desiredto win success or avert misfortune.Mr. Vitashevskiitells how a
1" Sibirskii Sbornik." " Prilozheniek Vostochnomu Obozreniyu," 1890,v. ii. " Kak i vo chtovyeruyut yakuty(Etnograficheskii nabrosok)." V. S-kago, 141-153. 2 Gmelin, ii, 364-36a. "SibirskiiSbornik,"158.
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who lived young Yakut, Siancha, on a visit to his father-in-law, a verst and a half from the author, invited a shaman to offera, and invoke a blessing from the guardian spirit of hunutssacrifice, men and fishermen. The Yakuts represent this spirit as a beanst the size of a big year old calf, with hoofs like a cow, a dog's head, at whichMr. eyes, and long hanging ear,s. The performance smuall Vitashevskii was presenttook place on the night of the 8-9th Feband the author of the ruary, 1890. It was extremely dramiatic, article gives a careful and detailed account of it. In many points, Mr. Vitashevskii's descriptionis of great interest for comparative ritual. and presentsquite a unique phase of shamanlist ethnograph-y, an image of the spirit of huntinigand fishingr As a preliminary, was made. It was simplya log of wood 3 in. thick and rather less than 28 in. lono. On this log a rough drawing of a, human face was made with a piece ofcoal. Besides this,the so-called " pillow" willow twigs. Both objects were taken to the door, and placed in such a way that the face of the image looked inwards. The performance began in the followingway: three young fellows stood with the shaman, each holding in hiisright hand three lighted faggoots. The shaman fumigated with the smoke of his faggots the three young men who stood facing the fire. Then all four threwdown at random,and the young men mixedwith the crowd. their faoggots The shaman sat down on a stool facing the door, and, holding an worlds. First of arrow in his righthand, pronouncedthe followin(g all he addressed Baryllakh, the spirit of the chase. We only give the beginningof the address: forest ofmyrich "Baryllakh Mylordgrandsire, Now-then!
Smile ! . . ." &c.
was made from a saddle, formed of two thick willows and twenty
The shaman then, in the name of the spirit,asked the young Ya,kut,who was going to hunt, what he was called, and receivinig the answer, " Theiycall me Sencha," the shaman pronouncedsonie outside,saying that Baryllaklh untranslatedMongol wordsand wenit himselfwould knock directly. ln a short time therewas a knock outside,and by the open door met by the spectators. enteredthe shaman, who was triumphantly He acted the part of spirit of the chase, laughed, smirked, and, sitting down on the ground, to the right of the chimney,said, "Give me my darling,myfriend!" Then theygave the shamanthe image of Baryllakh and the pillow which had been made from the saddle. He smelt both all over, and caressed them; then he orderedthem to be placed against the post which is in the perednii the ikons. On the pillow theyplaced ugol (place of honour) uinder a cup of salamata (hasty pudding), and threwbutterin the middle of the fire. In the morning,the master of the house where the took place ate up the salamata. The image of Baryllakh, performance anrdthe saddle pillow, were taken away into the woods. Thus ended the shaman's sorcery. It is to be noted that the Yakuts
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represent Baryllakh as always giggling, and fond of laughter. When huntsTnen have killed an elk, they go up to the beast laughing, in order to win the favourof the spirit. Mr. Vitashevskii has given another detailed account of a shamanist ceremony,organised,to appease the spirits,by a converted Yakut who wished to amelioratehis disorderedaffairs. The same shaman, one Simen, officiated.' In this, as in the preceding case, one can see, in a coarse form,the simple beginnings of those dramatic tendencies which among highly cultured peoples have reached such an extensive development, and have become one of the highest phases of literature. The shaman, in presence of his uncritical fellow-countrymen, gives the reins to his fancy, anid to make an impression on the tries by an originralmitse-en-scene visual faculty; he brings up spirits,mingles the comic with the tragic element, and, with an art surprising in a semi-savage, enchainsthe minds of his audience. Even the Russians who bave inhabited the countryfor a long time are often attracted by these shamanistshows. Methods of healing amongthe Tunguses.-Among the Tunguses, both pagan and Christian,the shaman, according to Shchukin, is not a priest,but a wizard who heals and divines.2 For the cure of the sick they apply to shamans, who, by inspecting the blood and livers of slain birds or other animals, diagnose the disease. They declare the means by which the gods may be appeased. By directionof these necromancersnew idols are made, and sacrifices are offered. The sacrifice takes place inside the yurta, in the evening. The shaman takes the patient's head between his hands, sucks his brow, spits in his face, and fixedlylooks at the affected part.3 And Ostyaks.-The Ostyaks, by command of the shaman, bring into the yurtaof the sick person several reindeer; to the leg of one deer theyfastenone end ofa rope,theotherend is held by thepatient, and when the latter pulls the rope they kill the deer. The head and horns are laid on the floor,the fleshis eaten, and the sick mlan is anointed with the fat.4 In order to extractthe devil, the Ostvalk shaman takes hold of the diseased part with his teeth, and in a few minutesdraws fromhis mouth a piece of the entrails of some beast, a small worm, or simply a hair, All these objects are co-nof a disease.5 sidered to be embodiments Leechoraft amongthe Kirghizes.-The Kirghiz shaman, like his colleagues in other tribes, adopts various methods to representin a dramaticformhis strugglewith the spirits that possess the sick. Sitting down opposite the patient,he plays on the balalaika (threestringed guitar), cries, sings, grimaces,then he runs about the
' V. Vitashevskii:"Materialy dlya izucheniyashamanstva ii Yakutov,Zup. V.' S. 0. R. G. 0. po etnografli," ii, v. 2', 37-48. " Poyezdkla v Yakutsk." Izd. N. Shch., 91. ' Shashkov, 99-100. 4 Shashkov, 98-99. 5 Tretyakov, 218. VOL. XXIV. H
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patient with a whip, bites him till the blood flows,waves a knife over Mim, spits in his eyes, hoping by such radical means to drive out the spirit. These performancesare repeated for nine days.1 AmongtheTeleuts.-On the shores of Lake Teletsk, iHelmersen witnessed the healing of one of his Teleut companions. The natives believed that evil spirits had entered his body, and were causing his pain and dismay. The kamJenika undertookthe cure. He began by tying some twigs together, put a red bot coal on the bundle, and waved it over the patient, meantime mutteringsome incoherentwords. The sounds he made gradually became louder and more guttural,and finallybroke into a wild song, accompanied by a swaying motion of the body. From time to time the chant was broken by loud deep sighs. The exorcism went on increasing in energy fora quarter of an hour; then Jenika placed the bundle of twigs by the sick man, sat down, and quietly smoked a pipe. The result of the treatmentwas that the patient was cured.2 In the Altai Mountains, nightmare is attributed to the spirit Aza. To drive it away, a kam is summoned,who conjures in the yurta before a willow twig with five colours bound to it (i.e., rags or ribbons of fivecolours).3 And Vogul Mlfanzes.-Onthe borders of Siberia and European Russia, among the Vogul Manzes, the medical functions of the shamans consist of invocation of the gods, whispered charms, and the use of certain therapeutics. In all cases they enquire of the gods the cause of the illness. The gods receive sacrificesof reindeer, garments,and hides, then the patient drinks charmed water, vodka, and blood; he is anointed with blubber, reiindeerfat, and still more frequently with castoreum bear's grease, he is furmigated and the sediment of boiled larch or birch, and rubbed with a bear's tooth. Frequently the same remedyis used for different diseases.4 The duties anzdfunctionsof Mongol and Buryat shamans.-The Buryats, by their social life and education, stand on a higher level than the other Siberian peoples. Among them, shamanism must have undergone a greater degree of elaboration,and, thanks to certain Buryat scholars, we are in a position to give a detailed account of Buryat shamanism,notwithstandingthe fact that the Yellow Faith of the Buddhist lamas is rapidly driving out the old Black Faith. Dorji Banzarov examines the duties of the Mongol shamans in general, and the Buryat shamans in particular,under three heads:
Shashkov, 99. " B. Helmersen: " Reise nach den Altai (Baehr u. Helmersen Beitriage) liv, 71. 3 Potanin,iv, 130. 4 Gondatti: " Slyedy yazycheskiklh vyerovanii u Manzov," 54.
2
and outintothe open air, wherehe mounts the first horse yurta he can find, and gallops about on the steppe,chasingthe spirit thattorments thesickman. On his return, theshamanbeats the
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and wizard, or diviner. As priest, theshaman, as priest, physician, knowing the will of the gods,decideswhat theywantfrom men, and be performs sacrifices as an expertin ritual and prayers. Besides the ordinary generalsacrifices, the shamansperformed privatesacrifices, of which,in Banzarov'sopinion, the following 2. For werethemostimportant:1. On beginning any enterprise; the healing of disease; 3. To preventmurrain, the attacks of wolveson cattle, and,in general, anypecuniary loss; 4. A libation to thesky,on the occasionof a thunderstorm, especially thefirst theshaman has a definite thunder in spring. As physician, method of expelling at the same time the spiritfromthe patient's body, he performs tricks, and actslike a madman. The giftofprophecy makes him verypowerfal. He either prophesies simply,or by meansof divination. Divinationis by the shoulder bone,and by the flight ofarrows.' While agreeingwith the learnedBuryatin to his viewofthepartplayed many points, we musttakeexception by the shamansas priests,whichin Banzarov's classification of a place. Morethanonce,we their duties occupiesso prominent is of have pointedout that the priestly of the shamans function of shamanism secondary whiletheessence is in sorcery, importance, which is especiallyapparentin the curingof diseases and in divination. The majority of cases of sacrifice, of a so-calledaccidentalcharacter, mentioned by Mr. Banzarov, arise precisely from thisfundamenital source ofshamanism. The Buryatschiefly apply to shamans and shamankasin two cases: when a member of a familyfalls sick, or when a horseis lost.' According to Mr. Sidorov, everyshamanist due to diseaseor theft, ceremony begins withdivination by the shoulder boneof a sheep or a goat. The Buryatshave a tradition aboutthisshoulder bone. A written law was givenby God to the chieftribalancestor of the Buryats; on his way hometo his own people he fell asleep unider a haystack. A ewecameto the stackand ate up thelaw withthehay; butthe law becameengraved on theewe's shoulder blade.3 In theAlarskdepartment ofIrkutsk, ofthe government according to thepriestEremyeev, thereis a superstition whichdoes not existin other districts. If anyone's childbecomes dangerously ill, theBuryatsof that region believe that the crownof his head is beingsucked by Anokhoi, a smallbeast in the form of a mole or cat,withone eye in its brow. No one excepttheshamancan see this beast and freethe sufferer fromit.4 Shamans called in to visitpatients, especially children, are calledbytheBuryats, Naizhis. If thepatient recovers, he rewards theshaman, and calls himu his naizhi. If anyonehas sickchildren, or if his children die, anynew borninfants, or young sick children are visitedby the shaman,
1 " " Banzarov * Chernayavyera,"107-115. "Mongoly Buryatyv Nerchinskom OkrugyeIrkutskoigubernii." Zh. M. Vn. D., 1843,ch. iii, 85. 3 Sidorov : " Shaman i obryady sliamanskoi vyery." Irkutskiya Eparkh. Vyed., I87 3g, 465. 4 " Slianmanstro Irkutskikh Buryat." Irk. Eparkh. Vyed., 1875g,21, 300.
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'who,in order to preserve them fromunclean spirits,makes a specialamulet, calledkhakhyukhan. If the infant livesorrecovers, as the case maybe, the shamanis called naizhi,and rewarded for his trouble. If thechilddies,the khakhyukhan is returned to the shaman, and the titleof naizhiceasesto be applied to him. The dutyofthe naizhiis toprotect the child, withth-e aid ofthezayans, from evil spirits, and grantit his powerful protection.There are not naizhis. in every family, and the Buryatsonlyapplyto such shamansin extreme cases. The naizhis are changedat the wishof the parents. It sometimes happensthat one family has several guardian shamans. If the childgrows up,he showsspecialrespect to his naizhi.1 (To be continued.)
in Japan: Shintoism-Buddhism-Christianity." "Religion By G. A. Cobbold. Illustrated. pp- 113. (S.P.C.K.) 1894. Svo. The volume gives a good account of religion at the present time in Japan. " The Asiatic Origin of the Oceanic Languages;" an etymological dictionaryof the language of Efate (New Hebrides). By Rev. D. Macdonald. (Melville, 1894.) pp. 212, 8vo. " This work gives in the firstplace, a dictionary of the language of Efate, New Hebrides, as accurate as I can make it after upwards of twenty-oneyears' constant study and use of the language in the as a missionarystationed on the island of performanceof my diuty Efate . . . In the second place the dialectical variations of Efatese words are given in a considerable number of instance,s; the cognate words in other langtuaoesof the Oceanic familyare usually put within brackets,and are chosen purposelyfromits four great branches-the Papuan (or 'Melanesian'), the MLaoriHawaiiani (or 'Polynesian'), the Malayan, and the Malagasy (or 'Tagalan')." A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya." By N. B. T)ennys. (London and China TelecgraphOffice,1894.) pp. 42i23. Svo. "The volume contains about threethousand headinigs. The Straits Settlemiienits and protected native states are treated of at considerable length, wNlhile notices, more or less brief,are given of every town, village, &c., appearing in published maps, as also of undescribed. The various aboriginal tribes, many others hitlherto thie products of the jungle, native manniers and customs, the
I Kibanriadeo: v Buryat. Zap. V. S. 0. Precl6liva i povyeriya -Unlgilnskilki Ri. G. 0. P.," Y. 21.24-25.
I.
Shamanism in Siberia and European Russia-(Continued) Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 24 (1895), pp. 126-158 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2842214 . Accessed: 21/02/2013 02:15
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Shamanism in Siberia and European Russia-(continued). Thechief andsacr-ifices rites perforvmed wizards.-Thanks byBuryat to thelaboursof severallocal investigators, we are able to makea ofthechief rites andsacrifices review performed byBuryat shamans, to thoseceremonies payingf special attention whichare connected of thesick. First of all we mast referto the with the healinig and the kkhyr-yk. The sasalga takes place sasalga,i.e. sprinkling, whenthediseaseis notdangerous, and whenthereis no evilspirit in thepatient; it is performed in the yurta. At thetimeappointed after his arrival, a smallfire bytheshaman, is kindledonthehearth. The assembledBuryats all sit down roundthe fire, leaving the placeof honour to theshaman and the patient. Wine (i.e., vodka), tea, sour-cream, and otherdelicaciesare brouight intothe hut,andl placed in smallChinese cups on a bench, covered witha clean cloth, nearthe front pillarof theyurta. On the benchtheylay one or two silvercoins. The shamanplaceshimself the opening facilng in the ceilingof theyurta, turnsup theleft sleeveof his fulr-coat or dressinggown,and taking, in his left hand a small whipwitlh a and a smallcopperbell,he begins withhis right hand to thong, winefrom sprinkle a Chinese cup intothe holein theceiling, meantimeringing the bell,and askingthedeity tosendhealthto thesick man. Afterrepeating this severaltimes, the shamanlays down thewhipand bell,sits bythefire, drinks wine,and givessomeof it to the patient; then, havingsipped some tea and sour-cream he makes thepatientdrinkthesealso. The ceremony (smetana), concludes by one ofthe oldermeii taking from the shamanwine, tea, anidsour-cream, and giving themto the otherBuryats; when thewineis all drunk, the ceremony of sprinkling is considered to be at an end,and all go home. takesplace whentheillnessis of a severekind. As we KkhyrYk have alreadvsaid,the Buryats believe that evil spiritsin their wrathsend down disease. In orderto cureit, it is necessary to know which evil spirithas done it, and why,also whatsacrifice will appease the spirit. The shamanfindsout all thisby means of a burnt shoulder blade. For thekkhyryk, a bonfire is kindledin the open air,outsidetheyurta. If the sick man is able to walk, theytakehim out and seat himby the fire. Theybrilng a sheep, somewine, brewedtea, &c. When all is ready, and a sufficient number of Buryats are assembled, theshamancomes; he takesin his righthanda smallwooden Chinesecup,ladles outsomewinein
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in the it, and, turning to the fire, pronounces various exorcisrms Buryat tonigue. While uttering these he sways from side to side, now approaching the fire,now retreatingfrom it. Frequently he takes himselfby the head, and sprinklingwine,fromthe cup, in the fire,mentions the niame of the patient. The longer the kkhyryk of his face lasts, the greaterbecomes his inispiration;the expressioni changes, his limbs shake, his voice becomes wild and terrible,and is heard for a long way round. Finally he runs up to the fire,and, as if driving somebody out of it, shakes his head, and with a fearfulinhunan shriekfalis full length backwards,but the Buryats standing behind do not let him fall on the ground. When the shaman has partly recovered consciousness,he takes a little sourcream and anoints the lamb. The Buryats kill the animal, cut it up, and cook it in a kettle. While it is being,boiled, the shaman wine, and gives drinkto the patient; the sits oil the ground,driniks remainderis handed to some respectable old man, who treats the is ready, the sharnanthrows a spectators to it. When the muLtton fewpieces in "he fire,eats of it himself,gives a piece to the patient, and the rest to the crowd. At the end of the feast,the bones of the sacrificed sheep are burnt, the shaman receives from the patient the skin and some money,and goes home.' Mr. Khanoalov has collected descriptionsof various shamanist rites and sacrificesof a-more special character; here we shall only with the healing of the sick. Among the referto those connected. Balagansk Buryats the Tatrimceremonyhas existed since ancient times. It is employedagainst internal diseases or fracturesof any part of the body, but rarely forsores. There are but few shaman4 this ceremony, as boiling water is used in it, and who can perform an unskilful operator might scald both the patient and himself. and Ekhon-tarimr, Ga7-tarimn, Tarim is of three kinds: Ukhan-tarim, the last consisting of a union of the two others. " When one Khangalov, " one's hair stands says iNMr. witnesses anEkhon-tarim,," on end, and one's fleshcreeps. The danger of the patient and the, shaman alike is so apparent that it seems as if they must both be is safely scalded to death, but, somehow or other,the whole thing, accomplisl)ed." An accident rarely happens, and then only in the case of young and inexperiencedshamans; unless he is acquainted or ekhonwith the shaman, a Buryat will not consentto ukhan-tarim by the Buryats when a man is tarim. Dole, a ceremonyperformed for seriouslyill, is ordered by the shaman, and consists in offering the soul of the patient some domestic animal. The shaman selects he liberates the sacrifice. If the zayan is satisfiedwiththe offering the soul, and the sick man recovers.2 The religious ceremonyof Khlushulkhais performedover those from cough or sores. The shaman sucks the who are suffering diseased part until blood and matter issue; if the patient has a cough, he sucks the breast, and then spits. The treatment is continueduntil the shaman thinksthe disease has all been extracted.
1 Sidorov: "Irk. Ep. Vyed.," 1873g,466-468. 2 Khangalov: " Novye materialy o shamanstvye u Buryat,"97-114.
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Thereis also a processcalledKhunkhe-khurulkha. It is intimately with the beliefof the BalaganskBuryats connected thata man's roundthespotwhere wanders it leftthebody. Smallchildren ar-c liable to have theirsoulsfrightened especially away,and the signs of this misfortune are believedto be at once evident. The child becomes ill, ravesin its sleep,criesout,remains in bed,weeps,and becomes pale anidsleepy. If manydays are allowedto pass after it becomeswild and aliento the body,and flees the soul's flight, far. Grown up peoplewhohave losttheirsouls do not noticethe factat first, and gradually becomesick. The kinsfolk applyto the and learnthat thepatienthas no soul in his body. Then shamlan, theythemselves tryto bringbackthe soul. The patient makesa khurulkha, i.e.,he summons his soul. If no remediessuffice, the shamanis calledin. Aftersprinkling and prayers, he organisesa In a pail he places an arrow and something khunkhe-khurulkha. the patientis fondof,e.g.,beef, or salamat. Afterthis theyset out fortheplace wherethe soul separated from thebody, and ask the soul to comne and eat its favourite foodand return to the body. When the soul entersthe body,the manwho had lost it feelsa shiver downhis back,a,nd is sureto weep; his soul weepsforjoyat finding its body. Somietimes the soul is so stubborn thatthe ceremony has to be repeated three times. Care fortheircattleis one of the leading traitsof the Buryat if a householder character, a,nd notices thatthere is anything wrong or if theshaman withhis stock, tellshimthattheyhaveundergone someeha,nge, thereligious ceremony ofshurge-shukhe is performed over theanimals. The shamangoes to the courtyard where all the cattleare enclosed, and takeswith hima bundleofresinouls faggots, and roastedflour. At the closed gates they perform the shurgeshukhe, i.e.,theybindto thedoorfragments ofa treewhich has been struck to a faggot, openthedoor, by lightning. Thentheyset fire and drivethecattleout of theyard. While the beastsare passing out,the shamanthrows flour thefireupon them. parched through The flour fire and burns. When all the cattle have passed t,akes ofthe flour is thrown out,theremainder downirn theyard. At the end of the ceremony, theshaman, thepeopleofthehouse, andother Buryats, go home.1 Organisation and classification of the shamanistprofession.are theceremonies MIanifold and sacrifices by the help ot which the shamans of all the Siberiantribes endeavour to producethe desiredeffect on the world of mysterious, malevolent spiritssurand persecuting rounding thealarmed ofthehalfsavage imagination natives. Upon the scienceofthesegloomy and upontheir wizards, good -will,the life and well-beingof everybody depend. The shamnans playa prominent partin theirtribes, and enjoyenormous
influience. soul may be frightenedout of his body, and fleeaway. The soul
It is difficult to say whetherthe shamansof Siberia forman organised and peculiarclass ornot. From.sucb dataas we possess,
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it would seem rather that there is no such separate class of society forminga kind of ecclesiastical caste. Nor are there any hierin the positionsof archical divisions,although there are differences shamans, founded upon their power and theirrelatioiis with spirits aid gods of various kinds. The Yakut shamans are divided into three categories, according to their power. The divisioninto wbite and black, i.e., shamans dealing exclusivelywithgood or bad deities, does not exist among the Yakuts.1 Accordingtothe poweroftheir e?mekhets, the Yakut shamans are divided into lowest, middle and great. The " lowest " are not properly speaking shamans at all, idiotic and in general eccentric but various hysterical,half-witted, people. They can explain dreams, tell fortunes, cure slight atilments, but they do not performthe great shamanist functions, because they have no guardian spirit. The "middle" shamans lhavemagic power in a certain degree, according to the power of their ernekhets. The "great " are distinguished by exceptional power; the lord of darkness himself gives ear to their sumimons. There can only be four such shamans at any given time in all the Yakut land, one for each of the four original Yakut settlements. In each settlement there are particular families endowed with m-iagic power. In such a familya great shaman appears fromtime to time. In the Namsk settlement, such a great shaman died recently; he was an old man named Fedor, nicknamed " Mychylla," ofthe Khatinarinsk community of theArchingfamily. TiheYakuts used to tell that Mychylla in his youth was hanidsome, buit in his old age he was as ugly as his protector the devil. The Yakuts narrated wonderful stories abouts his power.2 Gmelin mentions another distinction; he says that the older a Yakut shaman is, the greater is the number of names of gods that he knows, and consequently the greater is his power.3 Besides shamans, the Yakuts have shamankas. According to Air. Soloviev, the shamankas are inferiorto the shamans; they are only called in when there is no male necromancerin the neighbourhood. They are most freqcuently employed to foretell the future, or to findlost or stolen things. It is oiily in the cure of mental diseases that shamalikas are preferred to their male colleagues.4 But there are exceptions to this general rule. Gmelin saw among theYakuts a shamanka,twenty yearsofage, who was much respected even by old shamans.5 Among the Tunguses of the Trans-Baikal region, both men and women,married and single, may be shamans.6 Gmelin met among the Tunguses a shamanka who was thought superior to male practitioners.7 Among the Samoyeds of the Tarukhansk district, different shamanlsuse different methods, and know various words
Pripuzov,64. S-kii: " Kak i vo chto vyeruyut Yakuty." "Sibirskii Sbornik,'" 133-134. " Gmelin,ii, 358. ' Soloviev,Th.: " Ostatkiyazychestva u Yakutov." Sbornikgaz. Sibir,i, 414. 5 Gmelin, ii, 493-496. 6 Sibirskii Vyestnik, 1822g,ch. 19, 39. 7 Gmelin, ii, 82-84.
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them.' Amongf for invocations; women also shamanize among, the Ostyaks, so inearakin to the Samoyeds, shamans and shamankas are equally irritableand impressionable.2 The Buryats distinguish in which the gift is between shamans belonging to a fanmily theirkin any suLch hereditary,and those who do not numberamoncg favoarite of the gods. The formermay offersacrifices without consecration,and may appease the spirits; those of the second sort would expose tlhemselvesto the vengeance of the spirits if they attemptedto do this. There are also among them real shamans, i.e., those who are called to the service by the spirits,and spurious shamans, who assume the vocation without suich supernat-ural sanction. But the chiefdivision of the Buryat shamans is founded with good or evil spirits. The white shamans on this colnnection the black shamans deal with the latter. There is serve the former, a staniding feud of a savage character betweenthem. The Buryats tell how the whites anidblacks fight, throwing axes at each other from a distance of a hundred versts and more. The struggle generally ends with the death of one of the combatants; the victor is he who has the mostnumerousand most famousshaman ancestors.3 The white shaman, the servantofthe good gods, the westerntengris, the western khats,is believed by theBuryats to be a good intercessor ceremoniesand utters invocations only for mankind; he performs to protectingdeities who give wealth and happiness to men, he is thereforemuch honouredby the people. In the Balaganisk departtherewas a famouswhite shaman the second Olzoev family, ment,irn named Barlak. He wore a white silk garment, and rode a white horse. At the place where he was cremated there are still iroli memorialsof him on the trees, and his descendants offersacrifices there to theirmightyancestor. The black shaman, as the servant of wicked spirits,brings only evil, disease and death. Some ofthe black shamans can slay men by eating up their souls, or giving sacrificeto the evil spiritsthem to evil spirits. They onilyoffer the black shamans, eastern khats,&c. Amonog the eastern tengris, the Obosoisk and Torsoisk are especially famous. The Buryats are not particularly fond of black shamans and shamankas,but are very much afraid of them,lest in their wrath they should do some harm, or kill a man with the aid of evil spirits and their black shaman ancestors. Sometimesthe hatred for these necromancers reaches such a pitch that a conspiracy is entered into to murder them. There was once a black shamanka in the village of Bazhir, in the departmentof Balagansk. Her neighbonrs wished to get rid of her, and hired two black shama-ns, who, with the aid of evil spirits and their shama-nancestors, were to eat up this hateful head of cattle fortheirtrouble. woman. They were promised forty Accordiing to tradition, these two black shamans, Enkher alnd Birtakshin,could not get the betterof the shamanka,and therefore applied' for help to the black shaman Khagla. The three of them
I Tretyakov, 213. 2 Velyavskii: " Poyezdkak Ledovitomumoryu,"114.
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Shashkov,82.
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withgreatdifficulty in eatingup the witch,aind at last succeeded head of cattle. The shamankadied, wererewarded withthe forty and herneighbours buriedherin thefollowing manner. Thecoffin was madeof aspen,andtheshamanka was put in itfacedownwards. Then a deep trenchwas dug, the coffin was loweredinto it, the withaspen stakes,aspens were deceasedwas nailed to the ground squeezeddownuponher,and then the grave was filledup with earth. The Buryats look uponthe aspentree as uniclean, and for thisreasonthe shamansdo notuse it as fuel,lest theybe defiled. thatthe shamankia had become unDclean, The aspen coffin signified andherimpalement withaspenstakes herposition, facedownwards, hurtto mankind.1 There are also prevented her from doinlgainy amongthe Buryats who serve both good and evil a fewshamans Such are the chiefclassesof shamansamong the various tribes arise from thevery inhabiting Siberia. The distinctions essen-ce of shamanism, buttheyhave nowhere defined form acquireda strictly or developed intoa hierarchical system. theirownpeople.-These people3 Positionofthe shamansamong are intimately remarkable fortheir mysterious powNvers, cornected whichcomprise with of nativeSiberianlife, thosefeatures themost in a lowstateof developmenit. important oftribes interests In the the northof Asia, the shaman simplelifeof theraces inhabiting, exceptions, occupiesa positionof special importance among hiis fellow countrymen. Only among the Chukebis, accor ding to and their funnctions Litke,are shamans not respected, are limited to healing diseases and performilng, tricks.3 The Yak-utshave implicitfaith in their wizards,4 whosemysterious performnances, taking place amid the most disturbing surroundings, strike terrorinto those semi-savagepeople,5 and it is no wonderthat they are afraid of shamans and sharnankas.6 But fear predominates overfeelingsof respect, and the Yakuts are conviniced thattheirshamans, possessed do not die by the will of by spirits, thegods,and are unworthy of haviing the angel of death senltto theni. Thev kill one another, by sendingtheir demonsfor the The Tunguses, ofthe Yakuts,despitethe extending neighbours influence of Christianity, now,as in the days of Wraiigel,8 exhiibit greatconfidence in theirslhamans, and the latterare prcsenit at the burial of ChristianT-lunguses.9 The Ostyaksshow a verygreat deal of respectto theirmedicine-men and soothsayers.10 In the
Khangalov: " Novyematerialy,"85-86. 3 Erman, 1843, II. 3, 459. Agapitovi Khangalov,46. 4 Shchukin: "Yalkuty,Zb. AI. Vn. Dyel. 1854," 7, 21. 5 Klark: " Vilyuiski ego okrug." Zapiski Sib. Otd. i. R. G. O., 1864, kn. vii. 139. 6 Soloviev: " Ostatkiyazychestva u Yakutov." Sbornikgaz. Sibir. 18716g, t. i, 414-415. 7 Priptuzov, 65. 8 Wrangel, "Reise,' ii, 27. 9 Mordvinov: "Inorodtsy obitayushchie v TuruklanskomkIaye." Yyestn. I. R. G. 0., 1860, No. 2, 36. lo Velyavskii, 113.
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south of Siberia,the Buryatsgive honourto theirshamans,1 the are universallyesteemed and loved, the black white shama-ns shamans and shamankasare dislikedbuttgreatlyfeared.2 But, a medicineman loses his prestige according to some authorities, in case ofthe deathofa patient he has treated.3 and fearinspired The respect by the shamans must necessarilv in a purelyexternal expressthemselves form: honours are paid to the most important them, theyfulfil and receivefrom duties, their timorous fellow-countrymen greatmaterial advantages correspondbenefits inigto thepretended theybring. At Yakut festivalsthe shamansoccupythehighest position; on such an occasion, evena
prince kneels beforean oyun anJd receives fromhis hand a cup of kumys.4 In spite of this the Yakut shamans have no special
their fellows; they have a family,a yurta, cattle, they mow hay,
in every-day privileges life,and are in no way distinguished from and do otherwork.6 Theymake,by theirprofessional functions, fromone to fiveand twenty sums varying roubles. When they are unsuccessful theyare deprivedof theirfee. Besides money, theoyun getsa shareof thesacrificed flesh, and takesit homewith him.6 Gmelin saysthatone shamanwas thezaisan(head man) of his kin.7 In the Turukhansk country, among the Samoyeds. the famous of the local board,and shamanand sbaman Tynta was starosta princeling by inheritance.8Adrianov metamoing theAltai Tatars
kamns who held the officeof starostat, e.g., Stepan, on the river
of Shelkansk, Kandom, Ivan,bashlyk on the riverLebed,9 and Helmersen, during his travels on TeletskLake,was accompanied bythe zaisan ofthe Kergeiskcanton, who had been a famous kanm among have a certain the Teleuts.'0Buryatshamans distinctive headdress and co4ffure: amongthe Alarsk Buryatstheywear a silk tufton the hat; there is a tradition that shamansformerly wore plaits, thesewerereplaced by queves, then theytookto wearingthe hair long on the crownof the head; at presenttheirl hair is of equal lengthall over." Thus in every partof Siberia the shamans have an exceptionalposition, occupied and have succeeded in acquiriing it frequently considerable apparent influence, though happens that theirvicesand igniorance, or theirlack of desireto profit bytheir advantages, have reduced some of them to an isolated,povertystricken condition; e.g., a certain Yakut oyuqn spent the last yearsof hislife,afterhis wife'sdeath,in loneliness, by abandoned old witchdog.": a decrepit all, excepting Belief in thesupernatural powerof theshamnans-TheSiberian necromancers on tlhe one hand, in orderto maintaini themselves,
3
vyeruyut
1 Gmelin,ii, 183. a Klhangalov: "Novye materialy," 84-85. Khan-alov: " Predaniyai povveriyaUnginskikh Buryat,"24. 4 Gmelin,ii, 360-363, 505. 5 Sll-uk-in, " Yakuty," 21. 6 " PoVezddka V YakuLtsk," " Kak i vo chto Izd. N. Slhch., 202. V. S-kii: 7 Gmelill,ii, 82. 9 Tretyakov, 113. 9 Adrianov: " Puteshestvie na Altai i za Sayany," 184, 205. lo Helmerseni) 12 57. 11 Potanin,iv, 56. V. Sg
Yakuty," 130.
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and their credulous fellow-countrymen, their influence, on the variousmeans,and invent special beliefs,in otherhanid, employ the shamanist witha halo ofmystery orderto suirround profession and sanctity, to attribute to its adeptssupernatural power. of consecration and kamlanie, The shamanistceremonies described above,sufficiently exalt thesespirit-possessed necromancers; with theperson oftheshamancontiibute con-nected variousbeliefs theirswayoverthe mindsofthenatives. The Yakuts to magniify of their oyuns, that everyone howeverweak and are convinced or guardianspirit, has his emekhet, and his bestial insignificant, image, ie-kyla, sent down fromabove; this incarnationof the shaman in the formof a beast is carefully concealed fromall. it lies hiddenfarawayin the stony " Nobodycan findmyie-kyla, mountains of Edzhigansk,"said the famousshamanTynsypyut. Onlyonce a year,whenthelast snowsmeltand the earthbecomes ofmen. The black,do the ie-kylasappear amongthe dwellings inicarnate souls of shamans in animal formare visible only to but theywander everywhere, the eyes of shamans, unseenby all others. The strong theweak sweepalongwithnoiseand roaring, and furtively.Oftendo theyfiglht, steal about quietly and then fallsill or dies. Sometimes whose ie-kylais beaten, the shaman, shamansofthe first-class engagein a struggle, theylie locked in and evenyears, formonths, to overcome deadlyembrace powerless and mostcowardly each other. The weakest shamansare thoseof in comparison thecaninevariety;theyare wretched with those whohave a wolfor a bear as theiranimalform: the dog giveshis humandoubleno peace, but gnawshis heart and tears his body. is a stallion, The mostpowerful wizardsare thosewhoseie-kyla an elk,a black bear,an eagle or the huge bull boar. The last two are called "devil championsand warriors,"and confergreat honourupon their possessors. ally a secondary deity, always staysnearthe manit protects. It comes at his call, helps him,defendshim,and gives himadvice. " A shamansees and hearsonlyby meansofhis einekhet," declared " I can see and hear overthreesettletheYakut ayunTyusypynt, but thereare somewho can see and hearmuchfarther," he ments, added. The Tunguzshamanstell tlhat theyonlyget tlleir power or devil,to use by unionwith demons. Besides the chiefspirit, the wizardhas a hostof secondary in Gmelin's terminology, spirits his service; he that has most is most powerful. ln one finger of of the highestdevil thereis more power than in a multitude lesserspirits.' the Yurats and Ostyaks,the medicinementreat their Amliong and evenbuyand sell them. When the without spirits ceremony, sellerhas receivedthe price agreed upon,he plaits a few small braidsofhairon his head,a-nd a timewhenthe spirits are appoints of thefulfilment of theconltract, to go to the purchaser. The proof their is thatthespirits newpossessor;if they do beginto torment
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not,it is a sign that the shaman who has purchasedthemdoes not suit them.1 In the same region,that of Turukhinsk, the believethateveryshamanhas his assistant Samoyeds spiritin the form of a boar. This boar is somewhat like a reindeer, and its lordleads it by a magicbelt,and gives it various orders. If the the task impossible or dangerous it declines to execute spiritfinds it. On the deathof theboarthe shamanhimselfdies; hence the who firstsend their tale of thecombatbetweenhostilewizards, spirits to fight. When the shamanlacks confidence in the power of his familiar he himself goes to fight. The battlesof wizards take place bynighton high mountain ranges; duringthese cruel from the crags and roll into the abyss. contestshuge stones fly Besides their spirits,the Samoyed shamans also possess magic from weaponswithwbiehtheyslaytheirenemies a distance. It is by the blow of suchan arrow,shot by anothershaman,that a suddenfitofillnessis explained.2 Both amongthe Teleutsofthe Altai and the Buryats, thereare tales aboutthe extraordinary power ofkarts and shamans. The in order to test thereality first was a woman. Bogdokhan, kanm of herpower, thatan arrowshouldbe shotat her; the commnxnded woman was not killed,but went on kaming more energetically than ever. The Teleutssay that this womanhad a child,from 'whom descended. The Buryats ofthedepartment kanzs succeeding that the shaman Makhunai was so of Alarsk have a tradition powerful thatwhenhe sat in a sledge it ran withotut horses. At oiie time the chief authorityof Irkutsk summonedall the shamans,and orderedthem to prove the truth of their faith. Makhunai said he was incombustible.He was placed with his buriedunder seventycart-loadsof tambourine on a stone,anrd whichwerethenseton fire. Whenthe strawwas burntup straw, the famousshamanemerged himunhurt, shakingtheashesfrom self. Henceforth the authorities of Irkatsk have allowed the on theirprofession.3 shamans to carry Funeral of a Buryatshamaan.-Thefuneralsof shamans,and theirlifein theotherworld, show clearlythatthese electpersonages, favoured by the gods, must not be classed with othermortals. The Buryat wizard foretells his own death, declares what disease hlewill die of, and why the gods have punished him thus. After hiisdeath, old men of the same village wash the corpse with water consecrated by the addition of juniiper and thyme,then they pLLt on a dressing gown, and over that,a coat, sometimes both made of silk. Above the coat is placed the or-goi, a kind of dressinggowni, for a black slhaman and white for a white one. This sacred bluLe garment can only be made by men, wvomen dare not touch it. By the corpse they lay the signs of his profession. All this time the iiine " sons of the shaman," young Buryats more than twenty-five years of age, selected fromamong those who are experieiceed and acquainted with the rites, sing a fuLieral song; in this sonlg, which is improvised by the precentor, all the life of the deceased is
1 Tretyakov, 223-224.
2
Tretyakov, 212.
Potanili, iv, 288-286.
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and his virtuesare eulogized. The funeral is attended described, by other shamans, and by the dead man's naizhis,i.e., spiritual children, whomhe has healed,and to whomhe has givenamulets. also All theamulets are restored to the dead shaman. The naizhis at thefun-eral. bringvariouseatablesforconsumption The assemyjbled shamansdeclarethe will of the deceased as regards his place of burial,and pointout the horsewhichmustbe prepared forhim. Duringthethreedaysthat the corpse remains andfir-bark, while in thevillageit is fumigated withledum, thyme, the old men take it in turns to ringthe bellson thehorse-sticks is and beat the tambourine.On the thirdday an entertainment theeatablesare packedin bags,and carriedto theplace got ready, wheretheshamanis cremated. and The horseon whichthe corpseis carriedis ornamented, caparisonedwith a four-cornered piece of blue or whito cloth, to. At the edgesthis accordingf to the class the deceased belonged is sewed clothor or-goi is hungwithlittlebells. The lhorse-cloth bythesame old menwho makethefuneral orgoi. andplaced After three days,thedeadmanis takenoutofhisyurta old uponthehorse, an old man sitting, behindthe corpse; another man leads thehorse. Meantime the ninesolnssing,whilethe old men and the shamansring little bells and beat the tambourine. The processionmoves solemnly along, with halts and various Whenthefuneral trainreachesthe grovewherethe burialis to takeplace,the corpse is liftedfrom thehorse anidseatedon a felt carpet, so thatit be not defiled by contactwiththe ground. The roundthe corpsesinging. On theway,an arrowis " sons" -walk takesplace shotin the direction ofthehouse,and whenthereturn thearrow is pickedup and hidden. On a pile offirlogs theylay the saddle-cloth, the horse's orgoi,then the dead man with his bridle, his bow and quiverwitheightarrows by his Ilead,and his saddle underhis head; thepile is then set on fire. The arrows are put thereso thatthedead shamanmaydefend himself against hostile menand evilspirits. On the neigfhbouring the signs of theshaman's hang, treesthey professioni, and variousotherobjects. At the top ofone treethey fixa copper teapotor ladle fuall of wine, on anothera bottle of wine; the shamnanist emblems are put in a special woodenbox about a foot long,which is fastened by iron bands to theupper partofa tree. Skinsofbeastsare fastened to thenearest birches, either singly or in groups. After thetrizna (funeral feast)and the sacrifice ofthehorseon whichthecorpse was carried, thenmourners depart without lookinground, forfeartheshamanmightcarry off to theskywitbhimanyone whowas guilty ofcuriosity. For threedaysthenilne sons of theshamanstayin the yurta of the deceased, and chantfuneral songsas they walkround thetable, on whicha canidle is kept buirning all the time. At the end of three daysthenaizhis, kinsfolk, andshamans ofthesamesettlement again assemble, thenaizhis bringingprovisions. Theyrideto the
ceremonies.
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with the burial place and collectthe shaman'sbones,beginning skull, and put them in a blue or white bag, accordinoto the the characterof the deceased's functions. The bag containing holehewnout in thetrunkof a in a box-shaped bonesis deposited closed up again that it is is so skilfully and theaperture big fir, the restingplace of the shaman. This treeis to find impossible and is looked uponas his dwellingplace. called the shaman'sfir, cntsdownsuch a firwill perish withall his household. Whoever theydecide,by varioussigns,what sort of Duringthe ceremony offer prayers present powerthe shamanwill have,and theshamans as a deity: to the godsand to the dead man,whois also honoured of themeatare the sonssingsongsand makea feast; theremnants the funeral of the burnt on camp fires. With this ceremony shamanends. inhabited region, especially by Buryatsin a treeless In districts afar. isolatedclumpsof treesvisiblefrom on hills,thereare ofteni the burial places of theirmedicinemen These shamanistgroves, are called by the people aikha, i.e., they are and soothsayers, to cut down a declaredto be holyand inviolable;it is forbidden tree of them. Aniyviolationof the sacrednessof the place is brings severelypanished by the dead shamans,and sometimes and sometimes evenan death on the guiltly person. Everytribe, has its shainanist grove.1 ulus (or villagesettlement) and shamankas cultof deadshamans Worship ofbokholdois.-The beliefs. The dead magicians placein Buryat occupiesan important to them, are offered sacrifices theyare prayed becomebokholdois, of otherbokholdois to whose to forprotection against the clutches in poweraccording differ to attacksmenare exposed. Bokholdois the tribeor utkhathey belong to. The dead shaman bokholdoi and faithfully remembers his kin.2 his owntribesmen protects century, Shamanisttricks.-The travellersof the eighteenth attention tothoseperformances Pallas, &c.,paid particular Gmelin, and tricks, of the shamanswhichare of the natureof conjuring of thedeliriousstate into whicha man proof serveas a manifest passes when he is possessedby a deity. In these tricksit is abnormal physiologicalconditionsand to distinguish difficult and charlatanry. simulation from conscious self-delusion the Koryak sbamans thrust Accordingto Krasheninnikov, and drinktheir own blood,but these knives into theirstomachs, tricksare badly done and are evidentimpostures. Gmelinalso one shamanto perform declaresthatwhenhe asked an old Tunigus the shamanrefusedto pierce himself with a of his usual tricks, and acknowledged dart in the presenceof the scepticalGerman, conducted by this traveller the fraud.3 The severe examination Yakut witchwhoenjoyed universal and credit, a younig frightened she used in pretending to wound forcedher to reveal the tricks
53-55. Agapitovi Kharigalov, Zap. V. i Anakhayakh." o bokholdoyakh B3atarov:" Burvatskiyapovyeriya ii, vyp.2, 10. S. 0. I. R. G. 0. po etnografli, 3 Kraslhe-ninnikov, ii, 158-159.
2
137
in reality.' herself witha knife; she evenslightly wounded herself means employed Shchukindescribesthe primitive by theYakut magicians to convince theiruncritical of their fellow-countrymen power. Theyuse a pieceof gat filledwithblood,and cutit with a knife so thatthe bloodflows out; they several put onthestomlach layersof birch bark,and thenwalkaboutwith a knifethrust into Yakut shamansswallow this up to the handle.2 The ordinary eat hot coals and glass,spitout of theirmouthsa piece of sticks, from theirhandsin thesightof the money whichhas disappeared spectators;but some of thesespirit-possessed peopleare said, by the Yakuts, to do still morewonderful things. A goodshaman of -he head,theliver, in threeplaces: thecrown willstabhimself theend of theblade passesthrough an-d the stomach. Sometimes and is seenat theback,andthenthe " sun,"i.e.,the ironcirclethat and is spat out withthe hangson the wizard'sback,disappears, cut offtheir knife. Some shamans heads,laid themon the shelf, without them. Ofonepowerful and dancedabouttheyurta shaman it is said that he had a strugglewith a Ruissianwizard. The a kamlanie Russian, during performed bythe soothsayer Dzherakhin, himgettingf to prevent cast a charm on his antagonist his up from traced a circle roundhimself seat on theground. Dzherakhin with fromthe ground, with the his drum-stick, and, raisinghimself his Russianenemy circle, began to leap and kick; his footstruck him up againsttheceiling. It was only thatit threw so violently at theearnest entreaties of the defeatedRussian thatthe Yakut authorfromwhomwe have wizardlet himgo. The anonymous the abovefactssays that,in his experience, borrowed thoughthe at suchtricks and are glad to see them, do Yakuts marvel yetthey to them; a trueshamanis recognised notattachmuchimportance by verydifferent signs. Thus in the Kolymskdistrictan old shamankawho could do no trickswas much esteemed, while a the most complicated clever young wizard who could perform of Tomsk, shamanistmiracleswas of no repute.3 The Samioyeds in addition trickof a shaman allowinig to theordinary himself to a performance whichsometimes be shotin thehead witha buillet, leads to loss of life, take part in mysterious magic performances, seances. The wizard orders the specreminding one of spiritist and close the shutters;he then tators to bind hinm handand foot, all sortsof voices his familiar surnmons spirits. In thedarkyurta and soundsare heard. Whenthenoiseis at an end,thedoorofthe with his feet Ihut opens,and the shaman entersfromthe yaird,
free.4
In a certainBuryat song,the beliefthat a manin a state of and endowed withmiiiraculous ecstasy, power,can withoutinijury is expressed enduretorture ard wounds, vervcle:irly. In former in Irkutsk, times, theyused to catchyoungpeople,whl-ose hodies virtue. A Buryat was cauglitand crucified, had therapeutic and
3 4
2 "Povezdka v Yakutsk)" 202. Gmelin,ii, 493-496. V. S kii. " Kak i vo chtovyeruyut Yakuty," 134-B5. 297-298. Castren, VOL. XXIV. L
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pieces of his fleshwere cut offwith razorsand claspknivesfor medicinal Buryatfeltno pain,and sang.' purposes. The lacerated walk over a firebare-footed,2 The Buryat shamanswash in fire, at the healingof a sickperson,perform and,duringa ceremony and axe are trick: a red hotploughshare the following dangerous the medicineman stands withone footon taken out of the fire, and with the other foot rubs the red hot the hearthstone, severaltimestothediseased andthenappliesthisfoot instruments,
part.3
in theirvocation.-Tbereis no doubtthat Beliefofthe shamans ofthe shamans ofthetricks maybe classedwiththoseofour many cannotbe thus explained. but all theirperformances colljuiers, The fact that the wizardsmake use of purelyexternalmeans, to deceive the inteinded with variousartifices closelycolnnected ofa,profound conviction thepossibility doesnotexclude spectators, of thattheyare chosenforthe service of the slhamanis on theparts and possess a mysterious withthem, the spirits, have intercourse the beliefin their power over the forcesof nature. Of course, become more missionmust be weakened as foreigninfluences in Siberia. We have alreadyseenhow the natives predominant that the shamans of former acknowledge years were themselves deteriorates and shamanismnaturally everyyear,anid stronger, become merecharlatans. someofits representatives becamie the sky,at theage oftwenty veryill; he beganto see and other met. For nineyearshe concealed hiddenfrom hearthinjgs the tendency, fearing that he againist his gift, from all, and strove and wouldbe laughedat. Tyusypyut went wouldnotbe believed, and onlygot his life bythis self-restraint, so tar as to endanger reliefwhen he began to kam,and nowhe falls sickif he allows niuch time to pass without shamanizing. This Yakut ayun is and has oftensuffered on passionately devotedto his profession, were burnt, his hairwas this account; his dressand tambourine he was forcedto go to church and makethe usual proscropped, to us; our tratior.s;he was made to fast. " This is not a trifle withus everytime, and it faresill lotds (the spirits)are angry but we cannot give it up, we cannot help us afterwards, vwith madetoa Ruissian enquirer. An sh;manizing !" was thecomplairnt been a shaman,affirmed old blind Yakut,whoha(d that formerly of thesinfulness ofkamlanie, whenhe became convinced and gave up thie thespiritswere and destroyed his sight. angry, profession, therelivesa muchesteemed In tthe young villageofBayagantaisk caresnothing fortheprofits out on to his forehead."He is welloff, and took an oathto giveit up,but every of shai-ananism, timehe case" he broke his VoW.4 metwitha " difficult
I Zatuplyaev: " Nyekotoryva Alarskikh povyeriya Buryat."Zap. V. S. 0. I. R. 2 Gmeliln, iii, 72. Or.0., i; v. 2, 1. : Kh ,ngaiov: " Novyematerialy o shamanstvye u Buryat,"111. v V. S kii, 128-129.
i.e., he who fell from The famous Yakut shaman, Tyusypyut,
ayurl; the Yakuts say that when he shamaniizes" his eyes jumip
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describesthe physical and mental conditionof a Tretya,kov soothsayeramong the Tunguses of the Turukhansk country.
"Gifted with a sensitive nature,he had an ardent imagination, a strongbelief in the spirits and in his mysterious intercoRrsewith them; his philosophy was of ani exclusive character. Yieldi-ng himselfup to thiecreationsof his imagination, he became unquiet, timorous,especially at night, when his head was filledwithvarious dreams. As the day appointed forhis kamlanieapproached, he lost his sleep, fell into fitsof absence of mind, and looked at one object for hours at a time. Pale, languid, with sharp, piercing eyes, the man produced a strange imrlpression. Nowadays there are few true are profoundly conviricedthat their slhamans."'l The Te'leut kctms power has been granted fromon high. Gmselin says that the devil torinentsthem at night to such ani extent that they jump up in their sleep and cry out.2 The Altaian karmTumchug(at narratel in during the kamtlanie the devil was wont to appear to hitrm thtat the formof a dark cloud like a ball. While this cloud was present and said thingfs he knew nothing he was unconscious of everything,, about. When a missianaryadvised him to make the sign of the cross he replied, " If I crossed myselfthe devil would choke me."3 The Buryat shamans have such a belief in the curative power of their ceremoniesthat when they are ill they catl in theircolleagues over themselves, libationsof tarasun and have a kandanie performed to various gods, &c.' offered examples have been given in supportofthe view thatthe Sufficient as shamanismcannotbe explained rise of so complex a plhenomenoni by mere trickery. It is only a profound belief in their vocationi that could have created a convictionof the miraculouspower of the shamans, and endowed thetnwith that enormous influence whioh ttle Siberian tribes. still enjoy amnonig they enjoyed arnd Remtains of shamanism in European Russia.-The tribes of E tropean Russia have naturally been unable to preserve in all their completenessand puritytheir formerheathen beliefs,and it is only fromthe survivingfragmentsof old religious opinions that we can as to the character and sigDification ef almnost formany conclusiorns extinct deities, worships,and peiformersof heathen rites. From the nature of the materials at our disposal, it is impossible to give a fall account of shamanism among those tiibes; we -are therefore obliged to group our facts antier the head of the various nationalities rather than attempt an exhaustive general inquiry. Sanboyed tadib6is.-Two nationalities, inhabiting the extreme north of Europe, near the polar regions, the Samnoyeds and the liopars, occupy the most prominent position amorig European called tadibeis,are mediators shamanists. The Samoyeclshiamauis, between mankind and the Tadebtzi, spirits to whom Num has entrustedterrestrialaffairs.5 Johnson'saccount of a kamlanie.-Richard Johnson,one of the companions of Stephen Borrow, Chancellor's assistant, wvho
4
1 Tretyakov, 209-210.
Agapitovi Khangalov,53.
Gmelin,i, 278, 285. 3 Potanin,iv, 76. 5 Islavin: " Samoyedy," Mu9.
140
in 1556 to the mouthof the Oh1i, made an independent journey gave sucha detailed and picturesque accountof the kamlanie of a to quotethisstoryby an English traveller thinkit indispensable ofthe da.ys of Ivan the Terrible. The Samoyeds,subjectsof the whentheyintend to migrateto anotherplace, Russian Emperor, offera special sacrifice, the eldest of them acting as priest. withhis facecovered, A wizard,wearing a peculiar headdress, beat and sang with wild cries,the witha stickon a greattambouirine lon ly. Thiswenton untilthepriest Samoyeds present responding delirious. Finally,he fellon his back,and lav becameapparently asked whyhe lay there, therelike a corpse. Johbison andwastold thatthedeitywas thentellingthewizardwhattheSamoyeds were to do, and whitherthey were to turntheir steps. Then the outthrice" Ogn! " and thepriest cried roseand continued audience in themeantime five reindeers werekilled, bis chlant; byhisorders, and thentheshamanbeganto do tricks. He stabbed himself with he madethe sword red hot and thrust a sword, leavingno wound, it through his bodyso thatthe poinit at the back, and protruded was able to feelit with his finger. Then the Samoyeds Johnson set up inthechyum ina kettle, boiledwater (hut) a rectangular seat on whichtheyplaced the priest, like a tailor, sitting cross-legged, his necka ropeofreindeer tiedround thewizardfirmnly liminaries, ofit to two men who stood skinfourfeetlong,and gave thee-nds at the sidesoftheseat. Whentheyhad covered the shamanwith theSamoyeds whoheldtheelnds a lonjg oftheropebegan garment, and theEnglishtraveller to pull it in opposite directions, heardthe intothe boilingwater; the audience noiseof someobjectsfalling told Johnson thatthesewerethehead, shoulderand left hand of the wizard, whichhad beenseveredby the rope, but they would these objects,saying that whoeversaw notallow himto examine humaneyes mustdie. Soon the shouts whatwas hiddenfrom and and the Englishrm-an songsofthe natives twice saw beganat'resh, thrustthroughthe garment that coveredthe somebody's finger said thatthiswas not the wizard'sfinger, shaman;the Sa,moyeds for he was already dead, but some unknownanimal. Johnson couldnot finid any hole in the garment, though he examinedit withtheappearance concluded carefully. The performance of the whowentoverto the fireand informed wizard,quite unhurt, the couldfind out thesecrets Englishruan thatnobody revealedby the his fitofunconsciousness.2 deitydutring ancient shaman.--This Conjuring bya Samoyed description, given byan eye-witness, maybe comparedwith Castren'saccountof a witha tadebtzi. A Samoyedis seekinga lost shaman'sintercourse reindeer, and the wizardenters into communication with a spirit. lHebeginsas follows:
" Hakluyt's Collecwrittenby Richard Johnson, Certainenotesunperfectly tion."2 A new ed., 1809, vol. i, 317-318.
2
Samoyed tadibei,seeLi by him at the mouth of the Pechora, that we
and took the kettleof boiling water over to him. After these pre-
1 Adelung: " Obozryenie puteshestvennikor po Rossii," i, 135, 136.
and New Books. Anthropological Aiiscellanea,

"Come, come, Spiritsofmagic, If ye coimie not, I shall go to you. Awake,awake, Spiritsof magic, I am come to you, Arisefromsleep."
141
To this the tadebtzireplies:

"Say forwhat Businessthou hastenest hither; Why dost thou come To disturbour rest?'
Then the tadibei explains his request:

"There came to me Not long ago a nenetz(Samoyed); This man Persecutesme; has run away, His reinideer For thiscause Behold 1 am cometo you."'
A simple,artlessmelody,somewhatmonotonousin sound, appeals to the hearts of the unsophisticatedSamoyeds,.and helps to make them receive submissivelythe mysteriouis decisions commanicated to them by the expounder of the will of those spirits that stand between mankind and the supreme deity, Num. Dress and implements of the tadibeis=-During his performances, the Samoyed wizard dor1sa special dress, and makes use of certain magic instruments. The penzer,or tambourineof reindeer skin, is always indispensable. The tadibei makes his own tambourine, according to certain rules; he kills a perfectlyhealthy young male reindeer,prepares its skin in such a way that no veins ate lett,and dries it over the fire. During all these processes the shaman's inka (i.e., wife), as ati unclean thing, must keep out of the way.'2 The penzeris adorned with copper l ings and tin plates; it is round,and is made of various sizes. The biggest tambourine that Castren saw was a cubit and a quarter in diameier and an eighth of a cubit in height. On it is stretcheda thin transparentreindeer skin. The mightysounds of the magic tambourine penetrate into the dark world of spirits,and cause themto subbmit to the shaman's will. The tadibei'sdress consists of a shirtmade of'chamois leather,and called samburtsiya. It is decked witha borderof red cloth. All the seams are covered with red cloth, anidon the shoulders there are things like shoulder-strapsof the same material. The eyes and face are masked with a rag, because the tadibei must enter the spirit world his bo(dily by his inward vision and inotwvith eyes. The shaman's head is not covered; only a band of red clothis twistedround the nape of the neck, a-nd anotherround the top of the
2
1 Castren: " Reiseerinneriungen," 193-194.
Islavin: " Samoyedy," 112-113.
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and Neu' Books. Miscellanea Anthropological
head. These bands serve to hold up therag overtheface. An wear ironplateis pnt on the breast.' In some placesthe tadibeis
a hat with a visor, and deck their chamois shirts with rattles,
great use of the &c., miaking pieces of cloth of variouscolours, seven2 number is not consecration.-It shamans,and their Originof Samoyed the post is heregenerally everyone who can become a tadibei, but even in this case the wizardmustbe chosenby the ditary, and is sentto out by the -i5adebtsis, spirits. In youthhe is marked shaman.3 an experienced learnhis art under of themagicart does not seem to Bat thestudyofthe methods a singleSamoyed couldnotfind andCastren importance, be ofmuch consisted. tutors ofthesetadibei able to say in whatthe instruection theage of One Samoyedtold theFinnishscholarthaton reaching had beeni becausethere undera wizard, he was sentto study fifteen tiedup the his kin. Two tadibeis shamansamingncf famuous matny and told gave hima tambourine, pupil'seyes witha handkerchief, him to beat it witha drum-stick.At the same timeone wizard whiletheotherclapped clappedthenoviceon thenape oftheneck, time the youngman's eyes were him on the back. In a shlort dancingon of tadebtsis and he saw a multitude withlight, flooded had first the tadibeis his arms and legs. We ought to add thIat stories byvarious wonderful excited theirdisciple'simagination aboutthe Samoyedspiritworld.4 life.-The Samoyeds professional Variousphases ofthe t(idibeis'
as surgeons and diviners. If, forinstance, use their wizards chiefly to the wizard, who sends his suibjectspirit to follow the missing
he applies has losta reindeer, inhabitant of the tundra a credulous
beast. "Lie not,forif thouliestit will be bad forme," says the at me; tell what will lauglh "my comrades Samoyedsoothsayer, be itgood or ill." The tadebtsi concealing nothing, hastseen, tlhou and the shaman he has seenthe reindeer, theplace where mentions forthatplace. But it oftenturns ouit sets out with the owners tadibei, rulnaway,or that aniother .thatthe reindeerhas already out the footprints. has blotted spirit, withthehelp of his familiar into the wizardenquirescarefully thie kanmlanie, Before beginning was lost,when and underwhichthe reinideer the circumstances does notsuspectsomethe Samoyed whether wherethishappened, is formed, a definite opinion stolen it,&c. Graduvdly ofhaving body it seemsto himthat f d1sintotheecstaticfit, and whenthe tadibei to solve theexpressesthis opinionand enables himn the tadebtsi knowledgeof the simple life of their qnestion. A profound by a logic of the habit of solving obscurequestions neighbours. it possiblefora clear their own,peculiartalents-all these nmake ofthe credulous the demands and to satisfy to divine, headedmani savages. of thetadibeis. in detailthe medicalprocesses Castrendescribes dangerous thediseasemaybe. Whena Samovedfallssick.however
I
3
Castren,192-193. 191. Islavin, 109-110. Castren,
4 Castren,191-192.
Islavin, 113.
AnthropologicalMiscella'nea and New Books.
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nothingis donietill the dawn of the next day. Daring the whole nig,ht the shaman takes council with his spirits. If the patient feels a little better in the morning,the wizard may take his tambourine and begin, but if he is no better,it is necessary to wait is manifest, till the seventhdawn. If by this timeno improvement the tadibei pronounces the patient to be incurable, and does not even tryto cure him. When the symptomsare more favourable, the wizard asks the sick man whetherhe does not knowof anybody who mighthave sent himn the disease. A long enquiry takes place, to findout if the patient has foughtor quarrelled with anybody,and it is only wtienthe operatorhas discoveredthe cause of the illness, asking the tadebtsi,if the patient cannot communicate anything, that the tadibeidecides to begin his treatment. When theinfirmity has been sent by the supreme deity,the Samoyed shaman refuases to oppose the divine will, he only combats diseases proceedingfrom wicked men. He then asks his familiarspirit to help him. The of the Samoyed who has called in a person guilty of the sufferings tadibei,himselffalls ill. In a song quoted by Castren,the shaman firstsends a tadebtsi for help to Num. "' Do not abandon the sufferer," says he to the spirit, " go up to thedeityand ask his aid." The tadebtsi does as he is told, but comes back with the answer that Num will not promise his help. Then the tadibei asks the spirit himself to give his assistance, but the spiritreplies, " How can I help'? I am lower than Num, I cannot give any relief." The sorcerercontinues to ask the tadebtsito go up again, an,dpersuade Num to granlt salvation. The spirit demands that the -orcerer himselfshould make the journey. The tadibeirefuses. " I cannot attain to the abode of Num, it is too far forme; if I could approach him myself,I would do it without applying to thee. Since I cannot approach Num, go thou to him." The tadebtsiagrees, and says, " I shall go for thy sake, but the deity continuallyscolds me, and says he will give no promise, &c."' In order to test their abilityto heal the sick,the tadibeis,in addition to a verbal examination, undergo various physical tortares. These latter tests are described in exactly the same way by Richard Johnsonand Islavin. If the tadibei comes through this ordeal safe and sound, it is taken as a sign that he is possessed by the supreme power, and then his success as a doctoris indubitable.2 The Samoyeds are of opinionthat internaldiseases are frequently produced by the presence of a worm in the belly. In order to find the spot where the cause of the illness lies hidden,theypoke about the body with a sharp pointed kiuifeuntil theyfindthe diseased place. Then the shaman applies his lips and pretendsto call the taking it fromhis mouth,shows it to the worm,sucks it out, arnd, patient.3 Lepekhin says that t,he tadibeis take out an external disease with their teeth,while an internal disease, " like a worm having movement,"is taken out with the hands, after cutting the body with a knife.4
I 3
Castren, 194-198. Islavin, 1ll.
2 Islavin,110. 4 Lepekhirn, iv, 266.
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the Samoyed shamans are notdivided intoblackand Apparently their familiar as amongtheBBuryats; are not classed white, spirits to circumstances, as good and evil,but,according theydo someintheshamans ill.' The belief timesgoodand sometimes andtheir miraculous poweris boundlessamong the Samoyeds,and their is verygreat. They are as a rule the most intelligent influence and cunningof the whole race. Both men and womenmaybe in their own thebelief of ofthetadibeis power.-As regards Belief the opinions the Samoyedshamansin their own power, of eyeoftheirmagicdiffer. Thus,Mr.Maksimov witnesses is convinced is a cheat, case the tadibei that in every who cleverly abuses the and hoaxesthemmerely ofhis countrymen, togetvodka. simplicity in presence oftheRussian traveller, the soothDUring a kamlanie in his cups,and Mr.Maksimov saw in his facea sayerwas slightly roguish smileanda treacherous twitching ofthelefteye. Castren thatthetadibei in themiraculous affirms believes origin thoroughly from the monthof a tadebtsi, of the soothsayings proceeding createdbyhis ownfancy. A proof ofthehonesty ofthe tadibeis was theirquietreligioustone,and the complete unanimity of all thosewith whom Castrenspoke. He saysthatthe tadibeis very that theycannot call theirtadebtsi, oftenacknowledged or, that thesummons answers cannot whenthe spirit they geta satisfactory wouldbe at no loss response. This happensevenwhenthetadibei to invent some sort of answer. I. I. Maksimovand Castren, their are bothquiteright. notwithstanding apparent disagreement, weremerely in thosetimeswhenthe If the tadibeis cheats, then, we Samoyedrace was subject to no foreign religioLis influences, mmust beliefs of supposethatthewizardsdidnot sharethereligious in themidst ofsavagessunkin supertheirfellow-countrymen, but, alien to the religious werea sortof rationalists, stition, philosophy cannotbe heldto be of the otherSamoyeds. Such an explanation and Castrencorrectly condition of scientific, analysestheirmental when he represents themas deceiving the tadibeis, themselves as well as others. When the Samoyedrace cameinto contactwith their morecultured peoples, professing Christianity, former, coarse, naivefaithwas naturally andthe shaken; shamanism degenerated, withrelatively modern tadibeis, beingmien gifted stronger mental thetypeofcunning cheatsdescribed powers, gradually approached by Mr. Maksimov. theLopars.-The Lopars of the present Shamanism among day have hardly preservedany of their formerheathen beliefs. Shamanism amongthemcan onlybe studiedin books; in writers andeighteenth centuries we fiind oftheseventeenth ma,ny interesting to the religious ideas oftheNorwegian and Swedisl factsrelating Lopars. Concerningthe Russian Lopars we have but few historicaldata, and we are therefore obliged to study Lopar in foreign shamanism sources, especiallyScandinavian;stillthere survivals amonoourLopars. Johann are a fewshamanist Scheffer,
1 Lepekhin,iv, 262.
2
tadibeis.2
Maksimov, 501-505.
3 ibid.
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a German savant of the seventeenth century,published, in 1764, a Latin work on Lapland and its inhabitants. This book contains rich material collected fromthewritingsof Scandinavian travellers, referringespecially to the ethnographyof the Swedish Lopars. The chief authorityforthe Norwegian Lopars is the Danish jurist Henrik Jessen,whose book on the heathen religion of the Norwegian F'innsand Laplalnderswas printedin 1767. Klemm, in his " Clturgeschichte," has reproduced all the essential part of Jessen'swork. KamlanXe of {he Lopar noids.-The Lopar shamans, noaaids or noids, were so famous that Lapland was looked upon in olden people sent times as the school of witchcraft. The nieighbouring their children to the Laplanders to learn magic.' Nowadays, noids only exist among the Russian Lopars; theyare feeble descendants of the former magicians, mere wizards who have, however, preserved the ancient shamans' name.2 by The Lapland wonder-worker prepared himself for kacmlanie fasting one day; in cases of exceptional importance several shamans assembled in one tent. Sometimes the ceremony was repeated, especially when they wished to know to what deity sacrifice must be offered. If sacrifice was of no avail, a journey had to be undertakento the land of shadows (yabme aimo). For such an expedition a famous noicdwas selected,possessed of the test magic inistruments. In the holy place the shiaman asked a or dead kinsman, to protect the reindeer. But the chief yabbnteka, object of the journey was to conjure the gods, dwelling in yabme of aimo, that they should postpone their summons,to the kinigdom shades, of a sick man lying on his death-bed,and allow him to remain some time longer among the living. When the journey was about to begin, the noid assembled as many men and women as possible, and taking his tambourine,began to beat it with all his might, meanwhile sinlging, accompanied by all who were put the wizaid into a present. The noise,and his wild miovements, delirium. Resting the tambourine on his knees, he leaped with extraordinaryagility and rapidity,making the strangestnmotions, till be fell down insensible,like a dying man. He lay thus for an hour, till another noid, who had made the same journey,roused him. The noids unanimouslyaffirmed that the snake Saiva Gutelle, frightened by theircries, appeared before them, and carried them on its back to yabme-airno. In camethe spiritswould not fulfil the demands of the shaman, he enteredinto a dangerous sti-ugglewith them.3 Regnard, a French travellel of the seventeenth century, thus describes a noicd's kamlanie: "'The magician's eyes rolled, his face changed in colour,his beard became disordered. He beat his tambourine with such fcrce that it seemed ready to break. F'inally he fell rigid as a stick. Al] the Lopars presenttook great
Schefferus:" Lapponia," 120-121. N. Kharuzin: " 0 Noidakh u drevnikhi sovremennykh Loparei." Etnogr. Obozr.,kn. i, 63. 3 Klemin: " Ciilturgeschichte," iii, 85, 76-77.
'
2
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be was in this conapproached the diviner wheni care that nobodydition; even flieswere drivenaway and not allowed to settleon him The Lopar lay like a corpse for a quarter of an hour, and then he gradually came to himself,and began to look at us with a wandering gaze. Afterlooking at us all, he turned to me, and said that his spirit could not obeyhin, because I was a stronger magician than he, and myspiritwas strongerthan his." Another traveller, the Italian Acerbi, who visited Lapland at the end of the eighteenthcentury,quotes a fragment of a song sung by the assistants. The shamanist songs and his male and fernale shamnan had theirwords strictlydefined,and to forgetone word would lead to the death of the shaman. "Cursed wolf, go hence, and stay no longer in these woods! Get thee to the uttermostparts of the earth; if thou wilt not depart, may the huntsman slay thee! This song had the power of protectinga flockfromwolves.' which was once among The Lopar tambourine.-The tambourine, the chief instrunecnts of the Lapland wizards, is now a great curiosity. According, to Samuel Ren, the tambourine was out what used for four purposes: by its help they founid gernerally was going on intdistant lands, it indicated the successful or unsuccessful issue of an enterpriseor a. luman illness; it was also used to heal diseases; it taught the Lopars what sacrificesto offerand to be immolatedto thegods.' The tamiwhat kind of animal oug,ht bourine,(Kannus, Kvobdas) was made of spruce,firor birch wood. The tree fromwhich the wood was taken mu.st grow in a certaiin place; this showed that it was agreeable to the sun and the heavenly deities. There were two kinds of tambourine: olne with two crossed beams and was a wooden hoop strengtherned covered with skin, the other was an oval flat box hewn out and also covered with leather. of a piece of a tree truink, Klemm gives the external description of several tambourines in his collection. The most important feature of the Lopar tambourine is the drawing executed on it with red paint prepared from alder bark. The pictures vary according to the cnaracter of the owner of the instrument. Generally they represent celestial deities, spirits,the sun, the stars, various animals, e.g., bears, wolves, otters,foxes, also lakes, forests,and men. On subjects were repreby Jessen,forty-five the tambourinesketclbed sented. On an instrumentpreserved in the Royal Museum at Dresden, one sees, in the upper division, the chief celestial deity Radien Attsie and his only son Radien Kidde; to the left of these are the three persons of the Christian trinity,Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; in the middle is Baive, the sun, a ring girt with rays,in the midst of which is an indistinct human figure. The sun is connected by a stroke with a line which cuts offa special region, possibly Lapland. In this region is delineated a figure instruments, whose head is protectedby two,apparentlyshamaniist, as well as two fishesrepresentinganimal guardians; the feet stand
I
2
N. Kharuzin: " 0 Noidakh,"55-56. Schefferus:" Lapponia," 133.
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on bars leading from the terrestrial to the upper world; the left foot is on a road, showing the shaman how he may penetrate thither; there are two fishes and two birds by the man, and on his left stands a wolf representing the dog of the evil spirit Rutli. The right foo.tof thienoid points to a road leading to the three good spiiritsplaced near Radien Attsie. This man united with Baive, the good spirits,and Rutu, in all probabilitywas a symbol of a powert'ul noid, having intercourse with the spirit world. Besides the chief figares, many animals are to be seen on the widest part-foxes, a pig, a goat, a,narrow aimed at a young seal, eight circles representingstars, perhaps the constellation of the little bear, and a large double circle forthe moon.' With each tambourine there is an indicator and a hammer. on which smaller rings The indicator consists of a large iron riing made of copper,some of bone, and hang. There are indicaktors some plain metal rings. The hammer is made of reindeer born. The Lopars treat their tambourineswith the greatest respect,and wrap thiem up, with the indicator and hammer,in fur. No woman dares to touch a tambourine.' How men becomenoids.-The professionof noid was not open to all. When a young Laplander had an exceptional liking for this or spirit,had called him to be occupation, it meant that the tonto, a shaman. The tonto appeared to its worshippers in loniely walks, after sleep or excessive drinkiing. The undergroundspirit instructed the adept, and when he was sufficiently skilled in the magic art the ceremonyof consecration took place.' Ionn Tornei him says, " If the devil find any man fitto serve him, he afflicts with disease fromchildhood,so that there appear unto lim divers shapes and visions; and he learns what pertains to his art." 4 At the present day also, the power of necromancingamong the Russian Lopars miiay come by nature, but it is generally inherited. When a wizard dies, he " blesses with witchcraft," as the Lopars say, his son or daughter. In the parish of Notozersk there lives a Lopar woman named Afimya Egflorovna, who was born in the parish of Pazryelsk; to her is attributed the power of practisiingwitchcraft. When her father lay dying he asked her, " With what shall I bless thee, :r" She was silent. Somethinufell dovn outsidein the Afimyushka street; the man started,began to rave and shamanize. When hie came to himseXlfshe said, "What frightenedthee? It was only somethingthat fell in the street." He replied, " With this alone do I bless thee-there is nothing else with which I can." Henceforth she began to be excitable, and knows a little about witchcraft.' Concerning the way in which the devils themselves select shamans,there is a tale currentat Lake Paias. Not very long ago there lived on the shore of the lake a Lopar and his wife. They had three sons. The father and mother went out fishing on the
I
'
Klemm,iii, 90-95. 2 KilemM, 3 Klenm)], iii, 83. iii, 98-99. : " Lapponia," 122. Schefferus 5 N. Kliaruzin: " 0 Noidakh," 63-C4.
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lake and leftthe ehildren alone. In the absenceoftheirparents, threeha-ndsome youths used to come every dayto the ehildren. Whenit was timeforthe parents to return, the youths went away, saying, " When you grow up we shall all live togetheras inseparablecomrades. But you must not tell yourfatherand mother thatwe cometo you,and whatwe say to you." Oncethe youngest son,forsomereasonor other, told his parents whattook place in theirabsence. The parentes werealarmedlest somebody shouldsteal theirchildren, and therefore moved to the otherside ofthelake. The youthsnever appearedagain. But soon afterwardsthethree boysdied. Thentheparents guessed thatunder the form ofthe three therehad comedevils, youths leftafter the death of some noid, and had wished to serve the boys, but since the parentshad movedaway the spiritshad leftthem.' These two storiesare eharacteristic of the various ways in which shamans acquiretheirmagicpower. Some wizards gain it by belonging to a certain others family, by thechoiceofthe spirits. But in every case, in oldertines. it was necessary thatthe noidshouldbe fully and mentally, developedphysically and a man morethan fifty yearsofage, or who had lost his teeth, couldnot be a wizardand servant ot the spirits.2 One of the most sacred rites of the heathen Lopars was christening, as theycalled it. It was then i.e.,bathing, lyaugo, thatthe Lopar child receivedhis name. Women performed the ceremony. Every time the child fell ill, the christening was andthenamewas changed. Therewere repeated adultLoparswho hadbeenchristened threeor fourtimes. Everynoidwas solemnly to thisritebefore subjected he assumedhis rank. The christening of the noidswas calledodde-nabma-tsiadtset. The consecration of shamans was not accompanied by any solemnceremony; it was limited to an assembly of old noids. One ofthemsat downon the at the doorofthetent, ground anl interlaced his legswiththelegs oEthe candidate. The former sang and beat his tambourine, arid the spiritspenetrated intothetent, through the leas of thenoids, consecrated onlyvisible to the newly shaman. When the other noids were convincedof the presenceof the spirits,the newly manwas declaredto be a shaman, consecrated and with this the ended.3 ceremony Divinatio .-We have alreadyshowvn howthe Lapland slbamans h-ealed thesick,buttheirdutieswerenotconfined to this. A very itmiportant part oftheirbusiness was divination of every kind,and the sendingof misfortunes to men. For divination theytook a tambourine, put on it the ring-indicator, called arpa,and,by the blowsoftle hammer on the tambourine, set the ringin mrotioni. It one finger passed from to another, and thus indicated whatit was desiredto know.4 Duringthieceremony the wizard knelt. If it was necessary to find out whether an enterprise, e.g.,a huntingo expDedition. wouldbe
3 Mlemuin, iii,77-78,84.
I N. Kharuzin: " 0 Noidakh,"72-73.
2 Klemnm, iii, 85. 130-131. 4Schefferus,
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successful, several rings were placed on the tambourine; if the ring followedthe course of the sun it was a good omen, if it went to the left it was unfavourable. They also found out in this way what animals were to be killed, and the easiest road to a place.' When choosing animals for sacrifice, the shaman beat, the tambourine,and all the men and women present sang, " What Wilt thou take the sacrifice I sayest thou, great holy god? have appointed forthee ? " In the song they mentionedthe hill on which they wished to offerthe sacrifice. If the deity desired the ring stopped motionlesswhere he was delineated, the sacrifice, if not, they addressed another,until the ring indicated a god who wanted a sacrifice.2 Sacred animals ofthenoids.-All the cures, and all the mysterious rites of the noids were performedwith the aid of three kinds of animals, Salvo, dwelling iln the realm of shadows. These were: the bird saivo-lodde, the fish or snake soavo-guel1eor guarrns, and the reindeer saivo-sarva. The appellation common to them all was vuoige. The birds were of different sizes-swallows, sparrows, partridges,eagles, swans, &c. They were of every possible colour: some were black and some white, some black on the back, whiteunderneath, otherswere reddish,tawny,green and variegated. Among these birds, the most remarkablewere called vuornislodde; to mankind. On their wonderful these were especially harmfuil birds the noids were conveyed from place to place with great
rapidity.
snakes were symbols of the power and art of the shaumanstheir possessors. The snakes were often 9 feet long; they were used for doing harm to people, and for journeys in the heavenlyregions. on behalf of a sick The reindeer was sent by the shaman to fight, man, with the reindeer belongingto the wizard who had sent the illness. The strongerthe reindeerwas, the strongerwas its master the noid. The sending of diseases.-Tbe Laplanders portrayed in a vivid the mischief-making manner the method in whlich birds produced trouble among men and beasts. They flew to the noid, >at down of poisonous by his side and shook out of their feathersa mnultitude like lice, called magic flies,gan. If these fliesfell on men inisects, or beadts they brought sickness and other misfortunes. The noids carefullygathered up these insects, but never touched them with bare hands, and kept them in boxes, using them to do injury. It sometimes happened that the gans crawled out of the boxes; in this case the noids borrowed from one another these poisonous insects,and repaid the loan when the birds came hack again. But the Lapland wizards did not oftenoblige one another int this way. Anotherengine was a magic mace. This was made in the formof an axe, and imbued with a powerful poison. The shaman had only to touch with it a man or beast to make them ill, and a disease thus caused couildonly be cured by the noid who caused it.3
I
The fishes and snakes were also of various sizes;
the
3 Klemmi, iii, 74-75, 84, 101.
Klemm,iii, 99.
109-110. I Schefferus,
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and belief in their ofthenoids, Classification power.-Therewas no intoexclusively division goodand bad shamansamongthe Lopars. were allowedto enterthe profession.But Bothmenand women and their powervaried. A all noidswere not equallyrespected, clevershamancould by the lhelpof his magic do easilywhatan novice performed with diffculty.The spirits inexperienced sent bytheformer and he madelarger producedmoreseriousdiseases,
profitsby exercising his healing power.' Modern noids also are of value. Whilst some Lopars are only " slightly wizards," different over a largaeextent of courntry, others are famnous and theirservices are asked for in distant parishes, for healing or divination.2 The profound belief of the Lopars in the miraculous power of their wizards is illustrated by various traditions, quoted by Air. Kharuzin in his book on " The Noids among the ancient and modern Lopars." Opposite a fishingbaniklie the Ainov Islands, famous for their splendid cloudberries (moroshka). The Lopars of Pazryetsk tell a story about the origin of these islands, to the effectthat there lived once, in the days before Christianitywas introduced,in the parish of Pechengsk, three giant brothers whe were noids. They had but few reinideer,and they told their motherthey would go to Norway,cut offa piece of land, and bring it away with reindeer and other wealth upon it. A long time aftermother in a dream saw them returning. they had left home, thLeir She rainout of the hut, and. hearing a noise, cried, " See ! my children are coming,they bring goods, oxen,younng reindeer; they spoke truth." But strict silence is indispensable while the noids are engaged in sorcery; the violation of this rule was punished by the spirits: the woman, for crying out, was turned into stone, the whole parish turnedinto stone; the noids and the reindeer were drowned in trying to swim ashore, and the piece of stolen ground formedtwo islands.3 are feared by the Lopars even after Storyabout Riz.-The qvoids death. " There once lived in Notazar a noid named Riz. He did much good and muchill to men. At last he grew old tndfell sick. All thought he would recover,but it was not so. Soon he died, yet men came to fear him more than whenihe was alive. A coffin they made, and laid him therein,but no man was found to bear him to the grave, for he, being a wizard,might arise by the way and devour the other. His sons, even, dared not carry him to burial. At last, one of his own kind,anoid to wit,agreed tor a reward to take away the body. He drove away with him in the evening,so that the funeral might happen next day. At firstthe reindeer went very well, but suddenly, at midnight, they took friglht. The driver looked in frontanidto the sides, bnt nobody could he see or hear. Then he looked back, and saw the corpse sitting behind him. Fear fell upon him, but, being himself a wizard, he cried out, ' Since thou art dead, lie down !' The corpse lay down as it was bidden. Some time after,the reindeer againi took fright. He and saw ti-he hinm looked belhind yammii (corpse) sittingup again.
1
Klemm)iii, 8o
Kharuzin; "0 Noidakh,"163.
3Kharuziin, 66.
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his girdlea knife, le leaped oiit ofthekerezhi (sledge), tookfrom and said, 'Lie down or I shall cutthy throat.' At sight ofthe knife thedead man'steethbecameiron,and the opas (driver) was he had shownthe knife. He shouldhave showna stickor sorry log, and then theteethwouldhave become wooden.Yet thecorpse wenlt onceagain lay down. The driver on, buthe knewnowthat if thedead manrose a thirdtimehe wouldbe eaten,so he drove tiedup the reindeer, to a fir and then tree,jumped offthe sledge, climbed thetreeas fastas he could. At last he reachedthe top, but just thenthedead noidhad risenand come out ofthesledge. The corpse guashed his glitteringiron teeth, but his hands remained crossedon his breast; he cameto the fir tree, walked roundit severaltimesand beganto gnawit. Firsthe gnawed the and thisdid nottake long. Then he gnawedthe trunk. branches, and largechips flew away from He gnawed like a glutton, his sharp teeth. At last the firtree beganto shake. The driver and beganto break off saw thathe was in a sad plight, branches and throwthem down. The corpse,seeing this, thoughtthe tree was falling, and ceased to gnaw. Thus the driver the corpse'swork; this he did knowing severaltimesinterrupted the firfromfallingbeforedawn he thatif he could but prevenit wouldbe safe, forat dawnthe corpsewouldlie downanddie. The corpse, however, guessed the trickat last,and went on gnawing without paying any heedto thefalling branches. Then the driver beganto crowlikea cock,so thatthe dead manwouldtakefright, thinking the morning was come. He crowedseveraltimes,but theeast,and,seeingnosignofdIawn, thecorpse onlylookedtowards wvent on gnawing. Seeing that his efforts were vain,the driver was afraid. He decidedto go down quietly,so that the corpse mightthinkhe was yieldingof his ownifreewill. The corpse ceasedto gnaw,and waited. The man crawledslowly down. At last the dawn appeared,and the drivercried out, 'D)ay dawns; ' The dead noidsaw the d'awn, get intothycoffin! was terrified, went back to the sledge,and lay downin his coffin.The driver came down fromthe firtree,shut up the coffin, harnessedthe and droveto the burialplace. Onihis arrivalhe dtg a reindeer, grave,and let the coffin downintoit sideways, so that thecorpse shouldnotrise; he knewthatif the noidwereburiedon his back or facehewouldwalkbynight. He filled up thegraveand lurried home. Whenhe reached thevillagehe toldall thathadha.ppened, and thepeoplefeared greatly. For six or seven yearsfew dared to pass thegrave,and theythatdid,heardas it werethe voice of
oine weeping and howling."'
find Russia we onily of shamanism, survivals and information about timesis scanty. Amongthe Votyaks, former thereis a complex thefollowing: whichincludes spiritual hierarchy or ustotuno, tuno
2
Votyakshamans. The tuno.-Among the otber tribesofEuropean
vedin murt atnd or ubir.2 The tutno, wise, knowing wizard,pellyaskis,

IKharuzin: " 0 Noidakli,"73-75.
126-127. Buch: " Die Wotyakeuj,"
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or fortuneteller, plays a leading part in Votyak society. He heals diseases, findsthings that are lost, gives advice about changes of residence,and other perplexingcircumstancesoflife. Through him tbeir dissatisfaction withindividuals or whole the gods communicate will appease the gods, and villages. The tunodecides what sacrifice selects the priestsagreeable to particulardeities. The fortune-teller behaviour which leads ancestors to take indicates the disrespectful men vengeance on their descendants; he alone knows how to protect fromthis vengeance. He can foretellthe future, and experienced tunoscan even struggle with the gods. Thus, in a certain village a tunofouglt with Keremet, one of the most terrible of the gods. First of all the tunowas victorious,and made the god withdrawhis demand for sacrifice.but afterwardsthey made peace; the Votyak sorcerer acknowledged Keremet's power, and agreed that the villagers should offer sacrifice, but the value of the latter was reduced. the latterby The tunosfindout the will of the gods directlyfrom visitingtheir sanctuary, or falling into an ecstatic trance.' Mr. of a tunoon the appointment of Bogaevskii describes the 7kcmlanie new priests (sacrificers). The tunomust live a long way from the village in question, and thus be an unprejudiced person entirely unconnectedwith the village needing priests. Inimecliatelyon his is taken into the bath, and the people assemble in arrival, the tuino the room where the ceremonyis to take place. When all is ready, a musician appears, and begins to play on the gusti (psaltery). There is a special sacred melody forthis rite, and the gusli is the allowed. On the table, which is covered only musical instrument with a white cloth, there are tlhreeloaves and bottles of kurnys by everyfamily. Afterthebath, the tuno broughtforthe ceremony is dressed in white rainent. As he entersthe room,a whiteclothis put on his head, a silver coin is dropped in a wooden cup full of and then thetuno begins his work. Formerpriests surround kumys, him, and gird him with a white cloth. After some conjuring, the tuno stands up and, to the sound of the gusli, begins to dance, whip thehandle of which holding in his hands a sword,and a riding, forthe Votyaks believe that must be of tubylga,i.e., meadoev-sweet, unclean spirits are afraid of this plant. Kirillo, a Votyak peasanlt of the village of Kurchum, told Mr. Bogaevskii that the dance takes place round a sword which is stuck in the ground in the middle of the hut. During the dance, the tunobecomes delirious, and cries out the names ofthe future priests. If thenames mentionedare not correct,i e, if there are no such people in the village, the dance is renewed.2 The delirium becomes so violentthatseveral strongmen have to hold the tunowhile he is inspiied. The words chanted by the wizard are an invitationto the deity to come down to him and
1 Bogaevskii: "'Ocherki religioznykhvozzreniiVotyakov." Etnogr.Obozr., iv, 123-124. Votyakov."Sbornikmaterialorpo 2 Bogaevskii: " Ocherkbyta sarapulskikh Muzeye.,V. iii, 28-29. Etniogr. izcl.pri Dabbkovskom etniogr.
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his lips: "Come downand be gracious to us, Invla! speakthrough We,Votyaks, assembled together prayto thee."' is attained.-Thetuno's artis handed How therankoftuno onfrom father to son,and it is onlyspecially gifted personswho can have intercourse with the gods withoutthis inheritedqualification. howa wizardgainshissuperThereare Votyaktraditions showing whoinstructs naturalknowledge. The spirit generally appears at old man in a long robe, and of a grey-haired in the form niight, under strict diseases. Thescience demands secrecy, painofvarious ofwords in therepetition from a certain consists book. In thestory there features with are veryancient others mingled which are quite Inmarhimself, thesupreme inodern. Kylchin god,instructs some tunos. Inmarappearsto the favoured at night, in company person a wizardwhohasalready wvith beenenlightened, leadsoutthepupil, intothefields, to thesoundofthe gusli,eithcr or to a deep ravine, breadth or to rivers overwhichstringsare stretched. ofenormoous In thefield, thepupilofthemysteries sees seventy-seven firs,the leavesofwhichare beingcounted needle-shaped by manywizards. He thatcan countthemall in an houris allowedby Inmarto cast (sazhen _ 7 feet) broad,the god gives to those who can fill the in oneyearpower theirmouths Leavine withwaterfrom to do harm. To testhis abilities, thefuture tuno is madeto danceontight strings severaltimes;he thatdoesnotfall oncewillbe thecleverest.' In theseVotyaktalesit is probable thatreminiscences have beenpreservedof those visions which surrounded the sliamanistadept his solitary dcuring and his secretinterviews meditations, with the himin themagicart. whoinstructed tutno Position of theshaman.-At first to reconcile sight it is difficult twostatements by different the degreeof ethnographers regarding respectshownby theVotyaksto theirtttnos.Buch saysthat the somedrunken tuno is generally rascal,or a poor,despised peasant, is not respected.' Mr. Bekhterev, and therefore quoted in Mr. affirms Bogaevskii's article, that,"'to transgress the orders of the the sacredlaw,and the neglect ttnois to transgress ofhis instructionsmaybringthegreatest mnisfortune anid misery."4 But there in thesetwostatements; is no contradiction it is onlynecessary to that theVotyakwizardsare a decayinginstitution remember of that ancientheathenism whichis breakingdown underRussiani influence. Besides this, it is necessary to distinguishthe relations betweentheVotyaksand theirwizards in everyday life fromthose which exist during the kamlanie, when all present believethat the deityhimselfspeaksthrough them,and reveals whichcannotbe neglected. At thepresenttime,it is commands onlya man who can be chiefshaman. The powerof thetunos is
" Ocherkireligioznykh ' Bogae-vskii: predstavlenii Votyakov,"126-127. *$ Btuch, 126. 4 Bogaevskii: " Religioznyya predstavleniya," 124. VOL. XXIV. AM
' Bogaevskii: " Ocherki religioznykhlpredstavlenii Yotyakov," 124.
spells and ruin men. At the ravine, which is seventy-seven sazhens
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fromthe struggle.2 To acquire arid maintain influenceover theirfellow-countrymen, the Votyak tunosemploy various rnethods; their formsof divination are especially interesting. A tuno named Grigorii told Mr. Bogaevsskii that in order to discover the cause of a disease he usually looked at silver; if the silver was tarnished,the illness was due to the evil eye; if a spell had been cast over the patient, two roads were visible on the silver. F. Miller mentions two methods of divination: the wizard takes forty-one beans, arndby moving them about on a table findsout the place, day, hour, and beast for sacrifice to an offendeddeity. Sometimes the tunos or pour wine on to it, mix it up place on the h;ind a little snuff, with a shovel or a knife,look into it for some time, aild then give their responses.3 -Mr. Bogaevskii copied down froma tutno several Votyakcharms. and another charms. We quote one against the evil eye (urok-), against the wilful sending of illness 1. "Blue eyes. green eyes, black eyes, have cast the spell of the evil eye. Urok (evil eve) ! . . . If thou canst cause new leaves to grow on the tree that has fallen to the ground and rotted, thenicast thy spell! There are seventy-seven birds; kiss all the childrenof all these birds, and then cast thy spell. There are seventy-sevenants' nests; when thouihast kissed the children of .1llthe ants, then cast thy spell. In heaven plays Kvlchin-Inmar; lie plays with a golden ball in his hanids; if thou canst throw this ball out of the hands of Kylchin-Inmar,then cast thy spell!" (Copied down fromthe Yushinsk tuno,Grigorii.) m-iountain 2. " If thou canst twine togethersevxenty-seven ashes through an ant's nEst,then only canst thou eat and drink growing, trees killed by liglbtthis nan. Until thou unitest seventy-seven ning, I shall not let thee eat aiud drink mne. I shall -notgive seventy-seven to be eaten up by thee till thou pouLrest m-yself
I
3
and the power of the it depelds on theirabilities, not identical, god theyserve.' Pellyaskisand vedin.-The shamanist functionsamong the are distributed.Besides Votyaks, as amongsome otherpeoples, there are inferior wizards calledpellyaskis the chief wizard, or tuno, and ved,in. Not onlya man,but a woman, young or old,may be heals diseases,findslost property, but a pellyaskis; the pellyasJUis withthe godls, and ea-nnot do all that has not directintercourse his magic utterances the wizard the tunodoes. In pronouncing is exclusively thisthenameis derived. The vedin and from blows, malicious and harmful;he receiveshis powerfromevil spirits. sends diseases,and can turnhumanbeings into animals. This flies in theair,aynd can metamorphose himself, even black shaman attacks the sun,the god of health,who is at enmitywith the he darkens the sun,arnd produces eclipses; but spiritsofsickness, is short-lived;the sun always emergesvictorious his triumph
2 Buch, 127. ibid., 125, 127. Bogaevskii, 125. Voty-akov," Bogaevskii: " Religioznyya predstavleiiiya
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bathsintoone. Venture notto touch me till thou turnestseventyseven millstones into one. Venturenot to eat and drink metill
tihoucausest seventy-sevenstripped lime trees to grow with new bark and branches. I shall not yield to thee till thou makest a thousand big stones into one pebble. I shall not yield till thou makest seventy-sevencross-roads into one. I shall not yield to thee till thou causest all the rivers in the world to run back to their sources. There are seventy-sevenhidden gold rings; till thou findest all these rings I will not yield . . . When thou hast kissed thine ears and the back of thy head seventy-seventimes, then thou mayest eat and drink me up. I shall not yield to thee until thou canst turn the dust flyingin the air into an endless g,oldchain. None of these things hast thou done, therefore toucl not this man." (From a tunoof Vaminsk.) Shamantistsurvivalsatriong the Cheremisesand Chuvashes.-The remains of shamanism among the Cheremisesand Chuvashes have much in common. The Cheremisianwizards foretellthe future, heal diseases, cast spells, and decide what sacrifice should be offeredto any god.' Their miethodsvary; they cast beans, or look into water poured out in a vessel2; they pour water on the back of the victim,and if it tremblesit is fitforthe god.3 Phthisis and death are sent by means of a powder made of the hair of men and beasts.4 Some spells are handed down as secrets fromfather to son; if they are discovered they lose their power. Onie of the spells quoted by Father Mikhail Krokovskii preserved some traces of a shamanist kamlanie. The wizard, taking a glass of wine, turns with it to the sun, whispers some unintelligible words,at the same time blowing and spitting on the glass, and to the sides. Occasionally he stretches himself,as if he were sleepy, or mixes his ingredientswith a knife, which he then throws behind him. Afterall these ceremoniesthe wizard gives the patient medicine.7 The Cheremis wizards produced the impression that they were the most cunning and intelligent of their race.6 Among the lowland Cheremises they bear the Tatar name kart,i.e., old man, amono the highlanders they are called muzhan, and, like the Siberian shamans, don a special dress during the performanceof their rites. Their dress consists of a long white blouse without folds,with a red piece of fustian let in to the breast, and a black piece on the back. The Cheremisian wizards wear on their heads a tall hat of birch bark.7 Among the Chuvashes, wizards are called iemzya. Both meL and women become iernzyas.ff They are at once wizards, priests, and leeches; they heal with herbs, and tell fortunes by means of
1 Nurminskii: "Ocherk religioznykh Cherernis." Pravos. Sobyes., vyerovanii 1862g,kn. xii, 273-274. Rychkov: "Zhurnal ili dnyevnyya zapiski,"86. 3 Smirnov: "Cheremisy," 155. 4 Nurminskii, 274. Krokovskii: "Gornye Cheremisy." Zh. M. Vn. D., 1853g., ch. 41, 2336 Rychkov, 324. 85. 7 Zolotnitskii: "Kornevoi Chuvashskorusskii slovar," 165. 8 Zolotnitskii, 165.
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the profession.1 Sboev says that the Chuvashes show great honour to their wizards, and have a boundless belief in their supernatural power; they are invited to weddings, because people fear that an offended iemzya might destrov the bride or bridegroom.3 According to, Mrs. Fuks, the Chuvash wizards have no special dress for chuklyanie, i.e., the ceremony of sorcery.4 They drive out diseases, sent by the malevolent,in the name of a certain old woman. The Chuvashes fear the iemzyaseven, after death; thus, in the district of Cheboksar, in a certain village, in formertimes, there stood by itself a granary which excited universal dread; nobody would ga near it. In reply to the priest,the Chuvashes said that this buildand ing had belonged to an old maid, long dead, who was a iemzya, thtat her things were preserved in the granary; they believed that anybody who touched them would die; even the sight of these objects might make a man blind.5 and The Mordvivs.-Mordva is now almost completelyRussinfed, does not preserve any noteworthy traces of shamanism, hut in a, manuscript article of Mr. Minkh, sent to the Ethnographical Section of the Society of Students of Natural History, there are facts referringto survivals of shamanism which some initeresting were apparent some little time ago. The article deals chieflywith
I AleksandraFuks: " Zapiski o Chuvasbakh Kazanskoi gub.," i Cheremisakh 98-99. 2 Magnitskii: " Materialyk obyasneniyu vyery." Kazan, staroichuvashskoi 881, 12-16. uks,98. 4 168-169. ; Zolotnitskii, ;$ Sboev:" Chuvashi," 36.
coals, salt, and bread.' Mr. Magnitskiigives a long list of of their occupations. Thus, in the with a description iemzyas, the chiefvirusse, lives Aunt Tatyana, villageofMaslovo,there i.e., her charms. She mends who blows while uttering enchantress, and drunkenness, reclaimsyoungmenfrom hroken legs and arms, AuntVasilisa, and chill love. Another, knowshow to stimi-ulate possessesthe art of castingspellson the stomach. Two others, have the power,one,of Aunt Ustinyaand Natalya Maksimovna a the otherof uttering knowinga person'sdestinyby the eyes, (house spirit,brownie),and against charmagainst the domovoi paralysis. In the village of Semenchinis a blind man named Andreev; he definesthe names of spirits,appointsthe Arkhip and knows all the ritual for sacrifices. In thevillage sacrifices, of Tsivil,dwells Stepan Egorov,who of Kovaly, in the district bothgoodand ill. All theseiemzyas all thatwill happen, foresees but thereare some who becomewizards inherittheirprofession, qualification.It thishereditary even against theirwill,without fora Chuvashto makea lucky guess as to the issue is sufficient of some event,and peopleflockto him foradvice fromall parts, Russians as well as Chuvashes. The abilityto tell frequently by temptingadvantages; it brings fortunesis accompa-nied and awakens fear. We cannotwonderthat many who honour, absorbedin are afterwards at first, become iemzyas involuntarily
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is extracted from the report of the year1840,and theinformation a soldier'sson of Mordvinorigin,to Jakov, TimotheiLeontiev, of Saratov. Of coursewe cannotexpectto find, eveni arch-priest with a definite class of mediators in 1840,an organised paganism, betweenmen and gods, among the Mordvinsdwelling in the of Saratov,but thereare traces northern part of the government oftheexistenceof such a class at one time. Various shamanist fellto the lot ofpersonswho took upon themselves functions the and possessedcertainqualities. The dutiesoftheearlierwizards, ofthe dead occupiesa prominent worship place in the beliefsof thaton thefeast(pomiuka)in the Mordvins. Theyare-convinced of a dead manl,the latter invitesall his dead commemoration kinsmen and friends to thebanquet. Thereare people,especially women, who can see the dead guestsof thedeceasedheroofthe some old womani festival, so, duringthe pominka, sits on the threshold, and, as long as theentertainment lasts,keepsher eyes fixedon the table. Afterwards, she tells the survivingkinsfolk what dead people she saw at table,what theyspoke about, and whattheydid. When the Mordvinwomenhearofthe death of anybody who livesin theirvillage,theyprepare special dishes, themn a,nd carry to thehouse. On her arrival,the womanplaces the foodon the table,and falls on her face before the corpse. An old woman for thepurposetakesthe dish,and addressing especially appointed the dead,says: " Lo! so-and-so (naminothewoman)has broughti theecakes,eggs,beefand so on; eat heartily that thou be thyself nothungry, and regalethyguests; prayto God that all so-and-so has brought may be found anmong us, that corn mayincreaseand thatcattlemaythrive." On the feast of the Intercession of the B.V.M., October 1st have a special (O.S.), or withina few days of it, the Mordvins molyan. Notfarfrom thevillage,theyassemble at the sacredoa.k; on the hillside and spread gr eat tables witlh theylay downcloths, the food and drinkthey have brought. Three orfourof the old men don dresses of white and one afterainother, cloth, theywallc three times round the feast, touchingall the viands with their lands and saying,"White feet, Keremed, walkingin the woods, in the fields, we worship Keremued, walking Keremed, thee,guard thou us!" The people standingbehind,and a multitudeof do what the ministers women, command. Pieces of food, cut off and by other persons,are by the old men who are officiating, buriedin the earth,someof themi are placed in the great hollow ofthe oak,someon the treeitself, whiletheold women bow before theoak and scrapecoppercoinswitha knife, the money is thrown intothe hollowofthe tree. The women alsoapplytothetree, linen and this linenis used forthe care they have brought with them, of pains and griefs the next twoyears,afterwhichtimeit during is made up into costumesfor the ministering old men. At the end of the nolyan, are taken fromthe old the sacred garments men,and laidaside till nextyearforthenew masters of thefeast,
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TheKirghizes. -Pallas, inhis " Travelsin Various Parts of the among length aboutthe wizalrds speaks at sorne Russian f-inipire," of Astrakhan. There are five ofthe government the Kirghizes called falcha,divine by certain kinds of wizards; some of them, foretell yaurunchi, the others, luminaries, books,andbythecelestial ofa sheep. The wizards of the bythe shoulder-blade the future credited.When and are especially are called baksha, category third theyare applied to for advice,these Kirghiz wizards appointa a sheep,or a goat. Afterchoosing ofa horse, consisting sacrifice, beatsa tambourine hung thebaksha singsmagichymns, thevictim, othermotions. Half ail and leaps and miakes round with rings, hour laterhe kills the animal,and collectsits blood in a vessel destinedforthe purpose; thenhe takes the skinforhimself;the and present;thebonesare collected1, flesh is eatenby thecompany themaway thebonesredandblue,throws painting 'thewizard, after also he poursawaythe blood. to the westward. In this direction gives beginsagain,andthebalcsha thesacrifice, the divination After the responserequired. There are also two other varieties of to the colourofthe according whoforetells diviners: the kamcha, witches inthefire; and the dzhaadugars, ofoil or fatburning flame or prisoners;but the latter do not serfs who seek out runaway we enjoy any respectamong the Kirghizes,'and consequently of shamanism as thechiefrepresentatives mustregardthe bakshas ofRussia.thetribes phenomena ofshamanist Universality among Behring's from oftheRussianEmpire, thevast extent Throughout the Strait to the bordersofthe ScandinavianPeninsula,amongf heathen oftheir former remains tribes preserving multitudinous phenomena. or less degree shamanist in a greater we find beliefs, distancesthat' Despite the varietyof races and the enormoous whichwe class underthe general the phenomena separate them, reguare found repeated with marvellous name of shamanism in a scientific larity. In order to throwlightonthis regularity oftheshamans theperformances and explainmoreclearly mannier, of Sibeiia and EuropeanRussia,we mustglanceat the analogouis Asia. from is separated which on thatcontinent existing instituitions Strait. by Behring's Notes on the Aborigines of Australia.
The collection of the followingvaluable notes on the aborigines of various parts of Australia is due to the zeal and energy of Dr. E. C. Stirling, of Adelaide, South Australia, who sent copies of my anthropological questions to the various writers. Dr. Stirliiig kiiidly allows the notes to be published in this Journal,reserving to himselfthe right to make what use he may think fitof tlhemin a larger andl more systematic work which he hopes to publish on the native tribesof Australia. Every studentof anthro1 Pallas: " Reise durch verschiedene Provinzendes RussischenReichs."
among the European Kirghizes.

Folklore Shamanism Russia 1895

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Shamanism in Siberia and European Russia, Being the Second Part of "Shamanstvo" Author(s): V. M.

and NVew Books. Jliseellanea Anthropological

and New Books. Miscellanea Anthropological

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Shashkov,81. Agapitovand Khangalov,41-42. Pripuzov,64. Tretyakov:" Turukhanskii krai,"210-211.

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1 "Sibirskii Vyestnik," 1866, No. 18.

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Potanin,iv, 86-87. Bilder," i, 404-406. und ethnologische JBastian:" Geographische

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learns whether the sacrifice FromYulgenthe shamani is accepted

All the tambourines seen by Mr. Potanin were

Radloff: " Aus Siberien,"ii, 20-50.

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1 Gxmelin, iii, 26.

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frame,which have beenifound, may, according to Agapitov and

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The shaman's dress coi1-

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Potanin,iv, 49-54. " SibirskiiVyestnik," 1822, 39-40.

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Potanin, iv, 56-57.

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Khangalov: " Novyematerialy," 135-138.

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or special spirit,generally a dead shaman, occasionThe emekhet,

Glmelin, ii, 45-46.

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