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« on: June 22, 2019, 09:06:26 PM »
beard ; and foli, a inetul looking-glass with representations of twelve animals on it ; this is hung round the neck and worn on the breast ; sometimes it is sewed on the shaman's coat.
Occasionally the Buryat shaman has also a whip with bells, but generally all these implements tend to disappear in modern times. Two other ethical and linguistic groups, which, although they live only partly in Siberia, yet belong to the Neo-Siberians, are the Samoyed and the Finnic tribes, and a survey of their shaman accessories is of special interest in connexion with those of the Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic shamans.
The most important belonging of a fadibe/j (Samoyed shaman) is his pcnser (drum), which he prepares according to a special set of rules. He must kill a male reindeer-calf with his own hands, and prepare the skin in such a way that no veins are left on it. In these preparations inJca (i. e. a woman), being considered unclean, cannot assist.^
The drums, which are ornamented with metal disks and plates, and covered with transparent reindeer hide, are round in shape and of various sizes. The largest drum seen by Castren was nearly two feet in diameter and two and a half inches in height. - According to Dr. Finsch's description, the drums of the Samoyed and of the Ob-Ostyak are like the Altai drums, round, broad- rimmed, covered on one side only, and with a diameter of from 30 cm. to 50 cm.
The shaman's costume consists of a chamois-leather coat called samburzia, ornamented with red cloth. Eyes and face are covered with a piece of cloth, since the tadihey is supposed to penetrate into the spirit-world with his inner sight. Instead of a cap there are two bands round his head to keep the cloth over the face in position. An iron disk hangs on his breast.''
In certain jDlaces the tadihey uses a cap with a visor, and over the leather coat jingling trinkets and little bells and strips of cloth of various shades are hung. In this ornamentation the number seven plays an important role.*
Among the Laj^ps. the drum, kanniis or Icvobdas, which is now but an antiquarian curiosity, j^layed a most important part.' It
' V. Idavin, The Samoyed, 1847, pp. 112-13.
^ Castren, Reiseerinnerungen aus den Jahren 1838-1844 (Petersburg, 1853), p. 192.
I Op. cit., pp. 192-3. " Islavin, op. cit.. p. 113.
?' Scheft'erus, Lappland (Kunigsberg, 1675), p. 137, &c.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 227
was made of birch or pine wood, grown if possible in a sunny spot, since such a tree would be acceptable to the sun and the good spirits. There are two kinds of drum. One is composed of a wooden hoop, with two cross-pieces of wood inside covered with hide ; the other is an egg-shaped flat box, hollowed out of the trunk of a tree, and also covered with hide. The most significant ornaments are the drawings in red. They represent good and bad spirits, the sun. the stars, various animals, lakes, forests, and men. The division between this W'orld and the upper is clearly shown. Among many other symbolic figures thei'e is also the image of a noiida (shaman). Each drum has its metal ring with small pendants and a drum-stick of reindeer horn.
The Lapps take gi-eat care of their drums, and when not in use they and the drum-sticks are wrapped in furs. No woman dares to touch the drum.
CHAPTER XI
THE SHAMAN IN ACTION
Since the performances of shamans as professionals called in to treat diseases, to answer inquiries, for soothsaying and other similar purposes, are very much the same among the different tribes of Palaeo-Siberians, we shall confine ourselves to giving a few typical examples of these performances. The same procedure will be followed with regard to the Neo-Siberians.
Palaeo-Siberians.
Tlie Konjalc. Professional shamanism among the Koryak is at a most primitive stage of development, yet at the same time, thanks to the influence of European culture, it is also decadent.
Jochelson speaks ^ of the shamanistic performances which he saw as follows : ' During the entire period of my sojourn among the Koryak I had opportunity to see only two shamans. Both were young men, and neither enjoyed special respect on the part of his relatives. Both were poor men who worked as labourers for the rich members of their tribe. One of them was a Maritime Koryak from Alutor. He used to come to the village of Kamenskoj'^e in company with a Koryak trader. He was a bashful youth, his features, though somewhat wild, were flexible and pleasant, and his eyes were bright. I asked him to show me proof of his shamanistic art. Unlike other shamans, he consented without waiting to be coaxed. The people put out the oil-lamps in the underground house in which he stopped with his master. Only a few coals were glowing on the hearth, and it was almost dark in the house. On the large platform which is put up in the front part of the house as the seat and sleeping-place for visitors, and not far from where my wife and I were sitting, we could discern the shaman in an ordinary shaggy shirt of reindeer skin, squatting on the reindeer skins that covered the platform. His face was covered with a large oval drum.
' Jochelson, The Koryak, p. 49.
THE SHAMAN IN ACTION 229
'Sudilenly he commencetl to beat the drum softly and to sing in a phiintive voice ; then the beating of the drum grew stronger and stronger ; and his song — in which coukl be heard sounds imitating the howling of tlie wolf, the groaning of the cargoose, and the voices of other animals, his guardian spirits — appeared to come, sometimes from the corner nearest to my seat, then from the opposite end, then again from the middle of the house, and then it seemed to proceed from the ceiling. He was a ventrilo- quist. Shamans versed in this art are believed to possess particular power. His drum also seemed to sound, now over my head, now at my feet, now behind, now in front of me. I could see nothing ; but it seemed to me that the shaman was moving around, noiselessly stepping ujion the platform with his fur shoes, then retiring to some distance, then coming nearer, lightly jumping, and then squatting down on his heels.
'All of a sudden the sound of the drum and the singing ceased. When the women had relighted their lamps, he was lying, completely exhausted, on a white reindeer skin on which he had been sitting before the shamanistic performance. The concluding words of the shaman, which he pronounced in a recitative, were uttered as though spoken by the spirit whom he had summoned up, and who declared that the "disease" had left the village, and would not return.'
The other shamanistic ceremony was performed by a shaman at Jochelson's request for the purpose of divining whether he would reach home safely.
During this ceremony ^ the shaman suddenly asked Jochelson for his knife, saying, 'The spirits say that I should cut myself with a knife. You will not be afraid ? ' ^
Jochelson gave him, not without some scruples, his travelling knife, which was sharp and looked like a dagger. 'The light in the tent was put out ; but the dim light of the Arctic spring night (it was in April), which penetrated the canvas of the tent, was sufficient to allow me to follow the movements of the shaman. He took the knife, beat the drum, and sang, telling the spirits that he was ready to carry out their wishes. After a little while he put away the drum, and, emitting a rattling sound from his throat, he thrust the knife into his breast up to the hilt. I noticed, however, that after having cut his jacket, he turned the
' Op. cit., p. 51. 2 iijij^
230 RELIGION
knife downwards. He drew out the knife with the same rattling in his throat, and resumed beating the drum.''
Then he said to Jochelson that he would have a good journey, and, returning the knife to him, showed through the hole in his coat the blood on his body. ' Of course, these spots had been made before ', says Jochelson. ^ * However, this cannot be looked upon as mere deception. Things visible and imaginary are confounded to such an extent in primitive consciousness that the shaman himself may have thought that there was, invisible to others, a real gash in his body, as had been demanded by the spirits. The common Koryak, however, are sure that the shaman actually cuts himself, and that the wound heals up immediately.'
The CJiukcJice. Among the Chukchee, says Bogoras,'^ a typical shamanistic performance is carried on in the inner room of the house, when it is closed for the night. This room, especially among the Reindeer Chukchee, is very small. Sometimes the performance here descril)ed is preceded by another, held in the outer room, in da)dight, and usually connected with a communal ceremonial.
When the drum is tightened and moistened, and the light is put out, the shaman, who is often quite naked down to the waist, begins to operate.
In modern times Chukchee shamans imitate the Tungus shamans in smoking a pipe filled with strong narcotic tobacco.
The shaman beats the drum and sings tunes; at first slowly, then more i-apidly. His songs have no words, and there is no order in their succession. Though the audience take no actual part in the ceremony, they are in fact of some assistance, as forming a very primitive * chorus '. Their frequent exclamations encourage the shaman's actions.
Without an ocitJcGlin {' to give answering calls," participle) a Chukchee shaman considers himself unable to perform his office fittingly ; novices, therefore, while trying to learn the shamanistic practices, usually induce a brother or a sister to respond, thus encouraging the zeal of the performer.'*
' Among the Asiatic Eskimo, the wife and other members of the family form a kind of chorus, which from time to time catches up the tune and sings with the shaman. Among the Russianized Yukaghir of the lower Kolyma, the wife is also the assistant of
1 Op. cit., p. 52. " Ibid. ' The Chukchee, p. 433.
* Op. cit., p. 434.
I
THE SHAMAN IN ACTION 281
her sli.iman husband, ami during the performance she givos him encouraging answers, and he addresses her as his ''supporting staff"".' •
When the IrJct come to the shaman, he acts in a different way, according to whether he has or has not a ventriloquistic gift.
If tlie shaman is only 'single-bodied', the kcht Avill sing and beat the drum through his body, the sound only of the shaman's voice being changed. "SVhen he is a ventriloquist, the At?c/ appear as ' separate voices '.
Bogoras says that shamans could, with credit to themselves, carry on a contest with the best practitioners of similar arts in civilized countries. The voices are successful imitations of different sounds : human, superhuman, animal, even of tempests and winds, or of an echo, and come from all sides of the room ; from without, from above, and from underground. The whole of Nature may sometimes be represented in the small inner room of the Chukchee.
Then the spirit either l)egins to talk or departs with a sound like the buzzing of a fly. Wliile it stays, it beats the drum violently, speaking in its own language, if it happens to be any animal except the wolf, fox, and raven, which can speak in the language of men ; but there is a peculiar timbre in their voices.
Usually it is not only one spirit which appears, and this part of the performance might be called a dialogue. Sometimes the shaman does not himself understand the language he is using, and an interpreter is necessary. There are cases when spirit-language, comprising a mixture of Koryak, Yakut, and Yukaghir, has to be translated into Russian for the Russianized shamans and natives, especially those of the Kolyma district.
Jochelson tells of a Tungus shaman nicknamed Mashka, whose ' spirits ', being of Koryak origin, spoke through him in that language : ' I asked him several times to dictate to me what his spirits were saying, and he would invaribly reply that he did not remember, that he forgot everything after the seance was over, and that, besides, he did not understand the language of his spirits. At first I thought that he was deceiving me ; but I had several opportunities of convincing myself that he really did not under- stand any Koryak. Evidently he had learned by heart Koryak incantations which he could pronounce only in a state of excitement.'^
' Op. cit., p. 435. * Jochelson, The Koryak, p. 52.
232 RELIGION
There is no regular shanianist language among the Cliukchee, merely a few special expressions.
'Among the north-western branch of the Koryak, the "spirits" are said to use a special mode of pronunciation, similar to that used by the south-eastern Koryak and the Chukchee. A few words are also said to be peculiar to them. Among the Asiatic Eskimo the '* spirits " are said to have a special language. Many words of it were given me by the shamans, and most of them are analogous to the '' spirit " language known to various Eskimo tribes of America, both in Alaska and on the Atlantic side.'^
Sometimes the spirits are very mischievous. In the movable tents of the Reindeer people an invisible hand will sometimes turn everything upside down, and throw different objects about, such as snow, piece? of ice, &c.
* I must mention '. says Bogoras,- ' that the audience is strictly forbidden to make any attempts whatever to touch the " spirits ". These latter highly resent any intrusion of this kind, and retaliate either on the shaman. Avhom they may kill on the spot, or on the trespassing listener, who runs the risk of having his head broken, or even a knife thrust through his ribs in the dark. I received warnings of this kind at almost every shamanistic performance.'
After the preliminary intercourse with the ' spirits ', the shaman, still in the dark, gives advice and utters prophecies. For example, at one ceremony, where Bogoras was present, the shaman Galmu- urgin prophesied to his host that many wild reindeer would be at his gate the following autumn. ' One buck ', he said, ' will stop on the right side of the entrance, and pluck at the grass, attracted by a certain doe of dark-grey hair. This attraction must be strengthened with a special incantation. The reindeer-buck, while standing there, must be killed with the bow, and the arrow to be used must have a flat rhomboid point. This will secure the successful killing of all the other wild reindeer.*''
After his introductory interview with the spirits, the shaman sometimes * sinks ' ; he falls to the ground unconscious, while his soul is wandering in the other worlds, talking with the ' spirits ' and asking them for advice. The modern shamans actually ' sink ' very seldom, but they know that it was done in the old days.
When shamanistic performances are connected with ceremonials, they are carried on in the outer room. Veiitriloquism is not
1 Bogoras, Tlie Chuhcliee, p. 438. - Op. cit., p. 439.
=5 Op. cit., p. 440.
THE SHAMAN IN ACTION 233
practised on tliose occasions, and tlie Icle ' is bent on mischief, and among other thinj^s, seeks to destroy the life which is under his temporary pcsver.'^ Many tricks are performed by shamans even in daylight.
Upune. the wife of a dead Chukchee shaman, possessed won- derful shamanistic power ; she herself declared that she had only a small part of her husband's ability. In a shamanistic performance " she took a largo round pebble of the size of a man's fist, set it upon the drum, and, blowing upon it from all sides, began to mumble and snort in the same kele-Yike manner. She called our attention by signs — being in the possession of the Jccle, she had lost the faculty of human speech — and then began to wring the pebble with both hands. Then a continuous row of very small pebbles began to fall from her hands. This lasted for fully five minutes, till quite a heap of small pebbles had collected below, on the skin. The larger pebble, however, remained smooth and intact.' -
At the request of Bogoras the female shaman repeated this feat with the same success, and all the upper part of the body being naked, it was easy to observe her movements. The practice of stabbing oneself through the abdomen with a knife is universal in shamanistic performances ; Kamchadal and Eskimo, Chukchee and Yukaghir, even the Neo-Siberian shamans of northern Asia, are familiar with this trick.
It would be ditficult to describe all the tricks performed by the shamans : some of the commonest are the swalloAving of burning coals.^ setting oneself free from a cord by which one is bound, &c.
Neo-Siberians.
The Yakut. For comparison with the Palaeo-Siberian methods of shamanizing, we shall take a Yakut shaman in action, as described by Sieroszewski.* * Outwardly, shamanistic ceremonies are very uniform,' says Sieroszewski. The ceremony now de- scribed ' is the part of the shamanistic ceremony which remains always and everywhere unchanged, and, sanctioned by custom, forms, so to speak, the basis of the rite.'
When the shaman who has been called to a sick person enters the yurla, he at once takes the place destined for him on the
' Op. cit., p. 442. 2 Op. cit., p. 444.
^ Sarytchetf, lite Voyage of Capt. Sarytcheff's Fleet along the N.E. Coast of SOm-ia, through the Polar Sea and the Pacific, p. 30. * Sieroszewski, 12 Lat w Kraju YakiUow, 1902, p. 639.
234 RELIGION
billiri/J; agon. He lies on his white mare's skin and waits for the night, the time when it is possible to shamanize. Meanwhile he is entertained with food and drink.
* When the sun sets and the dusk of evening approaches, all preparations for the ceremony in the yurta are hurriedly completed : tlie ground is swept, the wood is cut, and food is provided in larger quantity and of better quality than usual. One by one the neighljours arrive and seat themselves along the wall, the men on the right, and the women on the left ; the conversation is jieculiarly serious and reserved, the movements gentle.
* In the northern part of the Yakut district the host chooses the best latchets and forms them into a loop, which is placed round the shaman's shoulders and held by one of those present during the dance, in order to prevent the spirits from carrying him off. At length every one has supper, and the household takes some rest. The shaman, sitting on the edge of the hilliri/Jc, slowly untwists his tresses, muttering and giving orders. He sometimes has a nervous and artificial hiccough which makes his whole body shake ; his gaze does not wander, his eyes being fixed on one point, usuallj^ on the fire.
' The fire is allowed to die out. More and more deeply the dusk descends on the room ; voices are hushed, and the company talks in whispers; notice is given that anybody ?wishing to go out must do so at once, because soon the door will be closed, after which nobody can either go out or come in.
632
« on: June 22, 2019, 09:04:57 PM »
218 EELIGION
is possible that iimugijat is not a symbol of the ancestor spirit, but has a meaning of its own. On the Yakut coat the skeleton exists independent of iimCujijat. On the Altaian coats described by Potanin, the doll is found side by side with the iimugyat. Both Troshchanski and Sieroszewski descril>e iimagijat as an indis- pensable ornament of every shaman's coat.
The coat possesses an impersonal power of itself. It is said to bear the names of ongor (Mongol) and tanara (Yakut) in addition to the classified names for the coat.
By assuming this coat the shaman receives supernatural power, which allows him to go to the upper- and under-worlds to meet spirits and deal with them. It is called ' shaman's horse ' among the Yakut.
The coat as a whole is a tanara of the shaman, and each symbolic picture on the coat is also his tanara, i.e. protector.^
Another interpretation of the coat is given by Pripuzoff.^ The picture of a perforated sun and a half-moon, he says, represents the dusk which reigns in the kingdom of the spirits. The strange animals, fishes, and birds which hang on the coat point to the monsters that are said to inhabit the spirit-land.
The iron chain hanging on the back signifies, according to some, the strength of the shaman's power, and according to others, the rudder which he uses in his journeys through the spirit country. The iron disks are there to defend the shaman from the blows of the hostile spirits.
Potanin'"' gives us an interesting description of the shaman's garment among the natives of Altai and north-western Siberia. According to him, it is in comparatively good preservation among the natives of Altai.
Natives of Altai. The shaman's coat is made of goat or reindeer hide. All the outer side is covered with pendants of varying length in serpent form, and has pieces of many-coloured stuff stitched on to it. The pendants, which terminate in serpents' heads, hang freely. Bundles of reindeer leather straps are also attached here and there. The term mumjak is applied by the natives of Altai to the small pendants as well as to the coat as a whole.
There can further be found on the coat various symbolic figures and jingling pendants, such as iron triangles, a small bow and
' Troshchanski, p. 135. ^ p, 95, 3 Qp. cit., iv. 49-54.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 219
arrow to frighten hostile spirits, &c. On the back and sometimes on the front of the coat there are sewed two copper disks. One hint (shaman) hud four empty tol)acco-bags hanging on his coat with imaginary tobacco inside, which he offers to the spirits whilst he is wandering in their country.
The collar is trimmed with owl's feathers. One lam had, according to Potanin, seven little dolls on his collar, which, Potanin was told, were heavenly maidens.
A few bells are sewed on here and there ; the more prosperous shamans have as many as nine. The ringing of the bells, a lam told Potanin, is the voice of the seven maidens whose symbols are sewed to the collar calling to the spirits to descend to them.
The cap ' of the Altaian shaman is formed of a square piece of the hide of a reindeer calf. On one side there are two buttons and on the other two loops. On the top, bunches of feathers are sewed, and from the lower edge hangs a fringe made of string and shell-fish. This is placed on the head with the two sides buttoned to the back, thus forming a cylindrical cap on the shaman's head. If the hide is hard, the top of the cap with its feathers sticks up like a coronet.
Among some shamans of the Teleut, the cap is made of brown owl skin ; the feathers remain as ornaments, and sometimes also the bird's head.
It is not all shamans who can wear the manijaJc and the owl- skin cap. The spirits generally announce to the chosen man when he may wear them.
Among the Tartars of Chern the shaman wears a mask {locho), with squirrels' tails for eyebroAvs and moustaches. Among the same people Yadrintzeff noticed the use of two crutches ; one of them was a crook, the other was supposed to be a horse, similar to the horse-staves of the Buryat.
All the drums which Potanin saw among the natives of Altai and north-western Mongolia were round in shape. -^ Yadrintzeff says that the Tartars of Chern have oval drums resemljling the egg-shaped drum of the east Siberians.
The Altai drum has a hoop as large as the i)alm of one's hand, covered on one side \vith hide. Inside the drum there is a vertical wooden stick and a horizontal iron chord with rattles
' Op. cit., p. 52. ^ Op. cit., iv. 44, 679.
220 RELIGION
attached. The drum is held by the wooden stick, and not at the intersection of the stick and the iron crossbar.
The wooden vertical stick is called bar by the natives of Altai. Among other north-western tribes it has various names. The bar has a man's head and feet at the two ends. The upper part is often carved, the eyes, the nose, the mouth, and the chin being cut with great exactness. The horizontal iron stay is called by the Altaians Jcrlsh, and from it hang various iron rattles called Jcungru. The number of Jcungru varies according to the ability of the shaman. It is a guide to the quantity of chayit (Potanin translates this word * spirits ', but it seems rather to mean ' spiritual power ') possessed by the shaman, since the more chayu the shaman possesses, the more Jiungni are found in his drum.
Under the chin of the figure on the wooden bar are fastened long strips of gaudy material called yauasua. Eadloff^ calls this yalama.
On the hide of the drum, sometimes on both sides, sometimes on the inner side only, circles and crosses and other lines are drawn with red dye.^
Some Altai drums have drawings of animals on them, like those on the drums of the North- American Indians.'^
The drums of the Chern and Kumandinsk Tartars differ from those of the Altaians ; instead of bar, JirisJi, and jingling plates there are here representations of the two worlds, above and underground, separated by a horizontal line, which divides the drum into two parts, an upper and a lower. ^
On the outer side of the drum of the Chern Tartars, pictures of animals and plants are found. On the upper and larger part an arch is drawn, with indications of sky, inside of which are two trees with a bird on each. To the left of the tree are two circles — the sun and the moon — light and darkness. Below the horizontal line are pictures of frogs, lizards, and snakes.^ These drawings have a particular importance, since the symbols described show more than any others the shamanistic view of the natural and the supernatural.
There is unfortunately very little material of a reliable character, the studies of Potanin and Klementz being the most valuable. On the whole, it is safe to say that the drums of the natives of
^ Ahs Sibirieii, ii. 18. ^ Potanin, iv. 40-9.
?' Jochelson, The Konjak, i. 58-9. * Potanin, op. cit., iv. 680.
" Op. cit., iv. 44-5.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 221
north-west Asia, especially in the southern parts, are adorned with representations of the upper and lower worlds divided by a horizontal line.^
The following interpretation of this same ornamentation is given by Klementz in his study of the drums j^eculiar to the neighbourhood of Minussinsk.- His information was given him by a lam of high standing.
Although by no means all drums are ornamented in the same way, yet in this account we may perceive certain traditional rules embodying the Altaian and Mongolian conception of the meaning of the drum and its decoration.
A. The lower part of the drum :
1. Bal-Kazfiu (painted in white), 'a rich birch' — alluding to the birches round which annual sacrificial ceremonies are held.
2. Ulug-hai-Jcazyn (in white) — two trees growing in Ulu- khan's country.
3 and 4. Ak-haga ("white frog') and Kara-haga ('black frog'), the servants of Ulu-khan.
5. Chsliity-us, spirits associated with seven nests and seven feathers.
6. Chshlty-hjz (' seven maids ') ; these bring seven diseases on man.
7. ZJJgere, to whom prayers are offered for the curing of toothache and of earache.
8. Of-hncze {' Mother of the fire ').
B. The upper part of the drum :
1. Souhan-ir. The Jcani translated this 'aurora' (whether with the meaning of dawn or the aurora borealis is impossible to decide from Potanin's description).
2. Kgun, ' sun '.
3. IJcc-l-aragus, two black birds, flying as messengers from the shaman to the shaytans.
4. Aha-tgus (the bear's tooth).
5. Siiggzngm-laragaf. According to the Jcam, this means ' the horses of Ulu-khan '.
6. Kjizgl-Yilch-'khan. to whom one pi-ays when Ijeginning any undertaking.
The other figures drawn in white paint are animals, which Kyzyl-kikh-khan is hunting.
' Mikhailowski, p. 68.
^ Types of Drums of the Minussinsk Natives, E. S. S. I. R. G. S., p. 26.
222 KELIGION
Many other authoi-s also comment on this method of dividing the pictures on the Neo-Siberian drum. Wierbicki,^ descril)ing the tangi'ir of the natives of Altai, says : ' On the outer side the hide is painted with red ochre ; on the upper part are repi'esented the sky, a rainbow, sun, moon, stars, horses, geese, the liam on a horse, and, on the lower part, the earth.'
According to Dr. Finscli's description - the drums of the Samoyed and of the Ob-Ostyak are, like the Altai drums, round in shape, broad-rimmed, covered on one side only, and have a diameter of from 30 cm. to 50 cm.
The Ostyak drums described by Potanin'' have the same division of the drum into lower and upper parts representing lower and up)ier worlds, as among the Tartars of Chern.
The Jlurijal. The Buryat shaman's costume was first described by Pallas."^ It belonged to a female shaman, who was accom- panied by her husband and two other Buryat, each of them holding a magical drum.'' She herself held in her hand two sticks, ornamented at the top end with a carving of a horse's head suri-ounded by small bells. [This implement is called by recent travellers 'horse-staves'.] From the back of the shoulders reach- ing to the ground hung about thirty snakes, made of white and black skin, in such a way that the snakes seem to be composed of white and black rings. One of the snakes was divided into three at the end, and was accounted indispensable to each Buryat female shaman. The cap was covered with an iron casque having horns with three branches, projecting on both sides like those of a deer.
Gmelin ''' saw a costume of another old and revered female
^ The Natives of the Altai, p. 45.
2 Finsch, Reisr nacli West-Sihinen, p. 550 (Berlin, 1879), quoted by Jochelson, The Korifah, p. 59.
3 Op. cit., iv. 680.
* liehe durch rerschiedene Proriiizen detf 7-ussi>iclie7i Reiches, 1777, pp. 102-3.
^ The more recent aocounts deny the existence of the drum among the Buryat. Khangaloff saw it only once, and this was in the case of a young and inexperienced shaman. Klementz states that the drum is very seldom in use among the Buryat. Nevertheless he says: 'At great shaman ceremonies, in which a shaman and his nine sons take part (some of which the writer witnessed on the estuary of the river Selenga, among the Kuda Buryat), one of the assistants holds in his hands a small tambourine, but neither the meaning of the tambourine nor the role of the assistant is quite clear.' Curiously enough, Pallas, writing in the eighteenth century, agrees with the contemporary witness in describing the assistants' use of the drum.
6 ii. 11-13.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 223
shaman near Selenginsk. Her costume was hanging in her ynrla, but, according to her account, was not complete. Among other things he mentions a box, full of strips of cloth, small stones, thunderbolts, (Sc. which she used for magical purposes.^ There was also a felt bag full of various felt idols.
In the exhaustive work of Agapitoff and Khangaloff there is a description of the old shaman costume among the Buryat — a costume of a kind which, however, is very rarely to be met with at present. According to them, the coat [orgoij), the cap, and the horse-staves {morini-lcliorho) are the chief ajipurtenances of a shaman.
1. The orgoi/ is of white material for the white shaman, and of blue for the black shaman. Its shape does not differ from that of the ordinary coat.-
Klementz-^ says that the old-fashioned orgo// was shorter than that of the present day.
The front of the coat is covered with metal figures of horses, fishes, birds, &c. The back is covered with twisted iron repre- senting snakes, with rattles hanging from them {slmmshorgo),^ together with a whole row of little bells and tambourine- bells.
On the chest above the thin plates used to hang little shining copper disks, and on the sleeves were also hung thin iron plates, in imitation of the bones of the shoulder and forearm. This gave Gmelin the ground for his assertion that two shamans who came to him from Nijne-Udinsk resembled chained devils,'*
2, The cap, which is i>eaked, is made of lynx skin, with a bunch of ribbons on the top. After the fifth consecration the shaman can wear the iron cap ; it is composed of a crown-like iron hoop with two half-lioops crossing each other, above which is an iron plate with two horn-like projections.
In the place where the intersecting hoops are tied to the hoop round the head there are three groups of l-JtouhoJiJto,''' or Mtolbogo, conical weights of iron. From the back of the hoop hangs an iron
' Agapitoff and Khangaloff (pp. 42-4) call an identical box shire. ^ Agapitoff and Khangaloff, p. 42. ' E. B. E., p. 16.
* Klementz uses the same native word shamshorgo for (i) the rattles attached to the snakes on the shaman's coat, and (ii) for the conical iron weights fixed to the upper part of the horse-staves, but he does not intimate whether this word has two meanings or not.
' Klementz states that the orgoy is in some places now only put on after death, for burial,
* Klementz calls them shamshorgo, E. E. E., p. 16.
224 EELIGION
chain composed of four links and ending in small objects resem- bling a spoon and an awl.^
Klementz^ calls this cap the metal diadem, 'consisting of an iron ring with two convex arches, also of iron, crossing one another at right angles, and with a long jointed chain M^liich hangs down from the nape of the neck to the heels — we know of them only from the descriptions of travellers and from specimens preserved in a few museums'.
3. The horse-staves {morini-Miorbo) are to be met with among all the Buryat of Baikal, but among the Buryat of Balagan they are not used. Each Baikal shaman possesses two. They are made of wood or of iron ; but the iron staff is only given to the shaman after the fifth consecration, when he .also receives the iron cap. The wooden horse-staves are cut for the novice the day before his first consecration, from a birch-tree growing in the forest where the shamans are buried. The wood for the horse-staves must be cut in such a way that the tree shall not perish, otherwise it would be a bad omen for the shaman.
This implement is 80 cm. long ; the upper part is bent and has a horse-head carved on it ; the middle part of the stick forms the knee-joints of the horse, and the lower end is fashioned into a hoof.
Little bells, one of which is larger than the rest, are tied to the horse-staves. Likewise small conical weights of iron, Ihouholho, or Jcholbogo, blue, w^hite, yellow and red-coloured ribbons, and strips of ermine and squirrel fur. To make it look more realistic miniature stirrups are also attached.
The iron horse-staves are not very different from the wooden ones. They represent the horses on which the shaman rides to the upper and lower worlds.
According to Khangaloff, it is in the drum that the horse, on which the shaman makes his flight, is symbolized. Khangaloff, however, also speaks of the rarity of the drum among the Burj^at. The only drum which he saw among them was of the form and size of a small sieve, and was covered with horse-hide fastened to the back with leather straps. He did not notice any pictures either on the outside or on the inside, but the outside surface, he says, was daubed with some white stuff.''
^ AgapitofF and Khangaloflf, op. cit., pp. 43-4.
- E. R. E., p. 16.
^ Agapitoft' and KhangalofF, op. cit., pp. 42-4.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 225
Klementz saj'S that the drum, l/iesc, is very little known among the Buryat, who substitute the horse-staves for it, and that the little bell is sometimes also called l-Jiese; nevertheless, among the Mongol shamanists and the Mongolized Uriankhai, the drum is in use.^
The Buryat Buddhists use in their divine services either drums covered on both sides with hide, like those found among the North- American Indians, or those with hide on one side only. These drums are round, and have leather handles attached to the outer edge of the rim.-
Klementz mentions as the next accessory of the shaman the Ihur, a 'tuning-fork' ('jews' harp'?), with a wire tongue between the two side-pins, an implement largely in use among shamanists. It may be met with, he says, from the sources of the Amur to the Ural, and from the Arctic Ocean down to Tashkent, Here and there it is merely a musical instrument."'
On the shaman's boots there were formerly sewed iron plates, but these are no longer in use.
The Olkhon Buryat, say Agapitoff and Khangaloff, have one other property, called shire. It is a box three and a half feet long and one foot deep, standing on four legs, each two feet high. On the box are hung ribbons, bells, strips of skin, and on one of the long sides different figures are carved or painted in red. Usually on the right side is represented the sun, and on the left, the moon. The sun is depicted as a wheel, and in the middle of the moon there is a human figure holding a tree in one hand. In the middle of the long side there are three images of secondary gods, one woman and two men, in whose honour wine is sprinkled several times a year. There are also war implements — bow and quiver and sword, and under each human figure there is a horse. The sit ire is used to hold horse-staves, drums, and other ritual implements. The shaman acquires the right of carrying the shi)-e after the fifth consecration.'' It is asserted, says Klementz,^ that with eveiy new consecration up to the ninth, the height and other dimensions of the shire increase.
Nil '' mentions two things more : abagaldeij, a monstrous mask of skin, wood, and metal, painted, and ornamented with a great
» E. R. E., iii. p. 16. ^ Jochelson, llie Kori/al; p. 59.
^ E. R. E., ibid. * Agapitoff and Khangaloff, pp. 43-4.
» E.R.E., ihid. ^ Archbishop of Yaroslav {Buddhism in Siberia, 1858j.
1679 Q
226 RELIGION
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Although the Gilyak belong to the Palaeo-Siberians, the metal accessories seem to be of Tungus origin, as are some other features of their culture. We read in Gmeliu's * description of the costume of a Tungus shaman that he wears over the ordinary dress an apron ornamented with iron. This suggests that this apron-form of the shaman's coat was borrowed either by the Gilyak from the Tungus, or vice versa.
B. The Neo-Siberians.
Among the Neo-Siberians all their philosophy of life is repre- sented symbolically in the drum, and great significance is also attached to various parts of their dress.
The Yalnit. Among the Yakut even those who, like the black- smith, help in the adornment of the shaman's garment, occupy a half-magical position, being credited with 'peculiar fingers'.' The hereditary l)lacksmiths have tools with ' souls ', khcJii/laJxh, Avhich can give out sounds of their own accord. The black-
^ Exactly the same preparations are mentioned by Jochelson, Tlie Korjiah, p. 56.
"^ Compare the leather apron hung with jingling iron pieces worn by Manchu shamans. [Suggestion of Mr. Henry Balfour.]
' Schrenck, op. cit., iii. 126. •* Op. cit., p. 193.
" Sieroszewski, The Yahuf, p. 632.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 211
smiths are tliose who approach most nearly to the shauiau in their oftice, ami are. in a way, related to them. 'The black- smith and the shaman are of one nest ', says a proverb of the Kolyma district, cited by Sieroszewski. * The smith is tho elder brother of the shaman' is another saying quoted by Troshchanski. Blacksmiths can sometimes cure, give advice, and foretell the future, but their knowledge is simply a matter of cleverness and does not possess magical value. The profession of blacksmith is mostly hereditary, especially in the north ; in the ninth generation the blacksmith first acquires certain supernatural qualities, and the longer his line of descent, the greater his qualities. The spirits are generally afraid of the iron hoops and of the noise made by the smith's bellows. In the district of Kolyma the shaman would not shamanize until Sieroszewski had removed his case of metal instruments, and even then attributed his l)ad luck to them : ' The spirits are afraid of the blacksmith (Sieroszewski), and that is why they do not appear at my call.' ^
The shaman's dress, according to Sieroszewski, consists chiefly of a coat It is of cowhide, so short in front that it does not reach the knees, but touching the ground at the liack. The edges and the surface of this coat are ornamented at the back with different objects, each having its own name, place, and meaning. The shaman's coat, which is not an indispensable part of the ritual costume among Palaeo-Siberians, is most elaborate among the Neo- Siberians.
Linguistically also there is a curious point connected with the terms for coat and drum. While the drum has a common name (with dialectic differences) among most Neo-Siberians, tiinUr, tiingiir, &c., the term for the shaman's coat varies : Jatmu, ereni, maw/al;^ This seems to show that the ceremonial coat is a comparatively newer invention than the ceremonial drum.-'
Sieroszewski* gives us an account of the meaning of the coat ornamentation, which he heard from an old Yakut. It is as follows :
1. Kiingeta (the sun), a round, smooth, shining disk, the size of a small saucer, hanging between the shoulders, on a short strap of leather which passes through the hole in the middle of the disk.'
' Ibid. 2 Wierbicki, Altaian Dictioiuo-i/, p. 487.
=* Troshchanski, op. cit., p. 131, " Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 632.
* Troshchanski (p. 143) says that according to Piekarski there is no
p 2
212 RELIGION
2. Oibon-Kiinga (hole-in-the-ice sun), a disk of the same shape and size as the first, hut with a larger hole in the middle. It hangs above or below the first plate on a long leather strap.^
3. Kondei Jci/Jian, rolls of tin about the size of a thumb, but longer, hanging at the back on the metal rings or loops.
4. Chillirijt Injlian, flat plates as long as fingers, hanging in great numbers at the back, above the waist.
5. Hobo, copper bells without tongues, suspended below the collar ; like a crow's egg in size and shape and having on the upper part a drawing of a fish's head. They are tied to the leather straps or to the metal loops.
6. Biirgiine, two round fiat disks, similar to those which adorn the woman's c.\p, tusalta, but without any design on them ; they are tied like an epaulet on the shaman's shoulders.
7. Oiogos fimiria, two plates about the breadth of four fingers and a little shorter, fastened on both sides of the body.
8. Tahgfaua, two long plates two fingers broad, which are fastened to both sleeves.
9. Amiigyat, abagyta amafiat (in many places called enichet), a copper plate as long as the first finger and half as wide as the palm of the hand. It is covered either with a drawing of a man, * with feet, hands, head, nose, mouth, eyes, and ears ', - or with an engraving in relief on a copper medallion, having a man's figure in the middle.
' Only a blacksmith who has nine generations behind him can,
sucli word as kungeta; it is, he says, hnmisd, or l-iisihul, but the meaning of l-i'oias/'i is uncertain. However, Troshchanski thinks that the Yakut word kun — ' sun ' — is not etjnnologically connected with kundsd. Khud- yakot!" translates the Yakut word kusiinn as 'bell'. According to Katanoft', krmina means (1) 'oracular time' (?). or (2) 'iron circle' fastened to the shaman's coat and representing the sun.
^ Troshchanski (p. 144) converts this term into oihon-kilndsdtd (hole- in-the-ice circle). Kundsafd is the genitive of kilndsd ; the genitive form is used to show that these objects belong to the shaman's coat. Priklonski {Tliree Years in the Yakutsk Territory, 1891, p. 54) calls it kuJar-kusanat (happy, joyous sun), which, according to Troshchanski (p. 144 1, is also wrong. He says it ought to be ki'ddr kusdnd (laughing circle). Potanin (op. cit., iv. 51) states that among the Mongolians of north-western Asia there are sewn on the back of tlie shaman's coat two round copper disks, called by the Altaians kusunfiy, or kuler-kusuugii, and sometimes two others on the breasts. Tretyakoff (op. cit., p. 214) informs us that the shamans of Dolgan have a disk hanging on the breast, which represents the chief evil spirit called kiiganna. Trosh- chanski (op. cit., p. 145), however, suggests that kuganna is simply the Yakut kuf!diid, and is not a term for an evil spirit, but for the disk.
- Sieroszewski quotes a native description of it, op. cit., p. 634.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 213
without danger to himself from the spirits, make an iimagi/af, a copper plate such as has been described, which the shaman, when he begins to shamanize, hangs on his breast.' ^ What exactly ihmgi/at means, whether it is a personal or an impersonal power, it is difficult to determine. We shall go on to review the various references to this subject, since the word dma(///at is used in the double sense of (1) an invisible power and (2) of a visible symbol. In this chapter we shall confine ourselves to the latter. The absence of umayi/at dift'erentiates the less important shamans, called kenniJci oi/iiun, from those who possess it and who are known as orto oijuun. The power of those in partial possession of dmagyat varies according to 'the strength of their unui(ji/at\'~ The great shamans are those whose ' spirit-protector was sent them by Ulu-Toyen himself {drmgyatitiah tiJutoer ulutoenton otujondah)?
Describing the shaman in action, Sieroszewski "^ says that the shaman implores the assistance of his ' (iyndgijat and of other protecting spirits ' ; and it is only when the dmiiggat descends upon the shaman that he begins his frenzied dances.
Whenever a family numbers a shaman among its members, it continues to do so, for after his death the dindggat seeks to re-embody itself in some one belonging to the same clan (aga-usa).''
^ Amdggat', says Sieroszewski in another place, '^ 'is a being quite apart ; in most cases it is the soul of a departed shaman ; sometimes it is one of the secondary supreme beings.'
The human body cannot endure the continuous presence of a power equal to that of the great gods ; hence this spirit-protector (if amdggat can be so called) resides not within, but close beside the shaman, and comes to his assistance at critical moments, or whenever he needs him,"
'The shaman can see and hear only with the help of his amdggat ','^ said the shaman Tiuspiut to Sieroszewski.
Possession of the dmdggut does not in any way depend upon the shaman ; it comes either by an accident or by a decree from above. Tiuspiut obtained his dmdgyat (of Tungus origin) quite accidentally.
The great shamans at death take their dmdggat with them, and thus change into heavenly beings, most of whom are ex-shamans ;
^ Op. cit., p. 632. 2 Op. cit., p. G28.
* Op. cit., pp. 642-3. '- Op. cit., p. 625.
^ Op. cit., p. 627. « Ibid.
Ibid. ' Op. cit., p. 626.
214 EELIGION
if the amiigyat does not depart in this way, then sooner or hiter it will show itself on the earth.
Troshchanski says that the most important ornament of the Yakut shaman's coat is iinidgyat, which represents a man. On one of the coats that he reproduces there is an ilmaij/iat on the left side made of molten copper. On another coat iimiujijats were on hoth sides of the breast and made of tin.^
Amiigtjat is the sign of the shaman's vocation, which is always given by the old shaman to the new. It is quite possible, thinks Troshchanski, that it represents the shaman's ancestor and protector.-
Speaking of the preparatory stage of the shaman, Troshchanski says that the Yakut shaman is taught by an older shaman, who initiates him by suspending round his neck the iimagyat. This symbol is taken aAvay from the shaman Avho no longer wishes to shamanize. An old blind Yakut, however, told Sieroszewski (p. 625) how he gave up his shaman's vocation, thinking it a sin, and although a powerful shaman removed the ihmgyat sign from him, nevertheless the spirits made him blind.
In the Mongolian language iimagCdcJzi signifies the figure of the protective genius of the house, family, and goods, and is made of tin. According to Katanoff, this word is derived from iimugan, grandmother.
10. Balyk-timlr (the fish), a plate a metre long, two fingers wide, made in the form of a fish with head, fins, tail, and scales. It hangs on a long leather strap. In some places, like the district of Kolyma, it drags on the ground to entice the secondary spirits, which run after it and try to catch it.^
11. CJioran, small hollow copper balls, fastened to the ends of long leather straps reaching to the heels and hanging like a fringe from the lower edge of the coat. This fringe is called hgtijri/s (the weed).
The coat is plain in front, and fastens on the breast Avith leather straps, and under the chin with a buckle in the form of a colt's tongue {hdun ii/l lu rdi(k). On the front of the coat are sewn figures of animals, birds, fishes ; vai'ious disks ; images of the sun, moon, and stars ; and also some iron representations of the human skeleton and bowels.
In the north, in case of the absence of this costume, the shaman
^ Troshchanski, op. cit., }\ 140. - Ibid. •' Op. cit., p. 147.
* Sieroszewski, p. 634.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 215
weal's the woman's saii(]i/nhi}i, a coat of calf's skin, witli the hair outside, on the feet of which are occasionally hung some of the most iuiportant iron accessories, like the two ' suns ' (or sun and moon), the lish and the bihyiine ; sometimes two round circles, which represent the breasts, are hung in the front.
A good shaman's dress requires about 35 to 40 pounds of iron.
In the north the shaman wears a woman's travelling cap with ear-flaps, but this is not to be seen in more southern regions, where the shaman is in most cases bareheaded.
According to general belief, the iron and the jingling pendants of the shaman's coat have the power to resist rust, and possess a soul — khchifc.^
The shaman wears his magical coat next his skin, and receives it from the hand of a kuturu'ksuta (page, assistant), i.e. the man whose duty it is to shout during the performance: sch ! Jcirdik ! choo ! o o ! (' well ! true I choo I o o I '), and who helps the shaman in other ways, such as preparing the drum.
The Yakut drum is called, according to Sieroszewski, tiingiir,'^ and according to Troshchanski,-^ tiiniir or diiniir.
The drum is always egg-shaped, and is covered with the hide of a young bull. Its longest diameter is 53 cm., the width of the rim 11 cm., and the length of the stick 32 cm. The wider part of the stick is covered with cowhide. According to Jochelson, there are twelve raised representations of horns on the drum."* Sieros- zewski '" says that they are always found in odd numbers, 7, 9, or 11. The cross inside is attached to the rim by means of straps. Little bells, jingling trinkets, and other rattles of iron and bone are attached inside round tiie rim, especially in the places where the straps are fastened.
The term tangiir seems to be a universal name for the drum among most of the Neo-Siborian tribes ; sometimes t changes to d, giving the form dnngiir. ^
In Manchu the drum is called tunJccn ; in Mongol dungiir; in Altaian tilngur; in Uriankhai donliir ; in Soiot and Karagass tiingur.
Among the Yakut, as has been said, there are two names, tinuir and diiniir. Maak''^ records that the Yakut of Viluy
1 Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 635. * Op. cit., p. 635.
" Op. cit., p. 128. * ITie Konjah, pp. 56-7.
* Sieroszewski, p. 635.
^ The Villi i/sh Dint rid of the Yakutsk Territory, iii. 118.
216 KELIGION
explained to him tluit ' the shamans in addition to the ti'tmir (drum) have also a stringed instrument, dilnfir '.
The word titniir among the Yakut means also kinship through marriage : Umuruttur, ' match-making '.
Troshchanski ^ thinks that this double meaning is not accidental, and that as the shaman was originallj^ the head of a family, the drum might be regarded as the bond of unity between the shaman and the community, as well as between the shaman and the spirits.
Besides the drum, the shaman uses two other musical instruments, one of which is a stringed instrument like the Russian haJalaiJM (a kind of banjo), the other an instrument like that known at a jews' harp, a small frame with a long wooden or metal tongue, which is moved by the finger ; the narrow end of the instrument is held between the teeth, so that the mouth acts as a sounding-board.
Among the Yakut the jews' harp, called liomus [hamys), is apparently not a shaman's instrument, though the shamans of other Neo-Siberians have been known to use it.
Among the Buryat from Irkutsk, this instrument is called 7i7«/r, and is used only by the shamans.- This is also true of the Uriankhai. The Soiot call it Jcomus, but the Altaians (using the term in the narrowest sense), who also have the word Icomus, use it to designate the stringed instrument resembling the Russian halalaika, which only shamans, play.^ The Kirgis call the shaman's drum Icobuz.^ According to Wierbicki, the Altaians use the two-stringed Icabys or Iconms as an accompaniment to the recital of heroic tales.^
There are sometimes minor shamanistic performances without the drum and without the special garments. The shaman sits in his everyday dress on a small chair in the middle of the room and holds in his hands a branch ornamented with bunches of white horsehair, of which there may be three, five, or seven, but never an even number. The fire is not put out for these performances, and some of the horsehair is thrown on to it. The shaman does not dance, but sings and whirls about.''
1 Op. cit., p. 129.
- Katanotf, A Journey to Karar/ass in 1S90, I. R. G. S., 1891, p. 201.
^ Wierbicki, A Dictionary of the Turkic Language, p. 141.
* Troshchanski, p. 130. ' ^ Tlie Natives 'of the Altai, p. 139.
^ Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 635.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 217
Troshchanski ^ thinks that, among the Yakut, white and black shamans have different coats. The coat of the white shaman has no animal pictures on it, because their spirit-protectors belong to the aiy (good spirits), which are not symbolized by animal pictures. The coat of the black shaman should not (according to Troshchanski) have representations of the sun, for these are peculiar to white shamans. The drums of the two shamans also differ. When Troshchanski showed an old Yakut woman, who knew a great deal about the shaman dress, a certain drum (op. cit., fig. II, h), she at once recognized it as a white shaman drum, since horsehair was fastened round the iron rim inside it.
Tribal and clan differences exist in the shaman's coat, and it would be difficult to say whether a sharp line can be drawn between black and white shamanistic garments. Troshchanski is much influenced by this conception of dualism, but from the materials in our possession, a few very imperfect photographs, it would be unwise to come to a decision. It should be remarked, however, that neither of the writers on the Palaeo-Siberians in describing shaman instruments makes this division, and but few of the writers on the Neo-Siberians.
Potanin ^ describes how, on a shaman's coat of the Uriankhai tribe, among other properties, there was a small doll with a minute drum in its left hand. On the same string to which the doll was tied there was another small figure of an animal re- sembling the sacrificial animal of the real shaman. The signifi- cance of this is, of course, obvious. The shaman's ancestor resides in a symbolic form in the shaman's coat. Thus the small doll of the Uriankhai shaman's coat takes the place of the Umagi)at among the Yakut, if we are to take ihmg>jat as the symbol of the shaman's ancestor.
The skeleton figuring on the shaman's coat in Troshchanski's book must probably also be ascribed to the shaman's ancestor, for quite near it are sewed hawks' wings, and none but a shaman can fly or be represented by wings.
One might suppose from what has been said above that we have here to deal with three ways of representing the shaman ancestor : by the doll, the amcigi/at, and the skeleton. It would be interesting to know, however, whether or not the dmiujijat is to be found side by side with either of the other symbols. If so, it
1 Op. cit., p. 133. 2 Op. cit., iv. 100.
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Among the Votyak there is a classification of shamans into (a) permanent and {b) temporary. The latter are chosen to perform some particular sacrifice. Besides these there are
* Agapitoff and Khangaloff, op. cit., pp. 85-6. ^ Lepekhin, Diunj of a Journey, p. 262.
^ Bogayewski, A Sketch of (he Mode of Life of the Volijuh of Sniapul, p. 123.
* Op. cit., p. 126.
202 EELIGION
secondary priests appointed by the iioio and called Uirc and parch is.
In former times black shamans also were to be found among the Votyak, but they have given way to the white, just as among the Yakut the white shaman has been largely displaced by the black.
The Votyak black shaman of former times has been converted into an ordinary sorcerer. He is called pellaslds, and ' he can aid the sick, and find lost cattle through his incantations ; but all this without any connexion with the deities '.^ Another kind of sorcerer is called vedin. He is feared and hated by all.'-
When the tuno has finished his education under Kijlclim-Inmar (the Creator), the latter takes his pupil to a place where the candidates for the position of sorcerer reside. He examines them, and to those who answer satisfactorily he gives permission to enchant and destroy men.
* Bogayewski, op. cit., p. 125. ^ Op. cit., p. 126.
CHAPTER X
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN
In everyday life the shaman is not distinguishable from other people except by an occasionally haughty manner, but when he is engaged in communicating with spirits he has to make use of a special dress and special instruments. Of these the most important and the one in most general use is the shaman's drum. It may be said that all over Siberia, where there is a shaman there is also a drum. The drum has the jjower of transporting the shaman to the superworld and of evoking spirits by its sounds.
Authors of the eighteenth century, like Pallas and Krasheninni- koff, pay great attention to the shaman's accessories. Though the}- have probably only been atti'acted by their picturesque side, yet their descriptions are very valuable in view of the modern attempt to reach the primitive mind through its symbolical forms of expression.
Shashkoff ^ enumerates the following items as indispensable to the shaman's dress all over Siberia — the coat, the mask, the cap, and the copper or iron plate on the breast. The Samoyed tad'ihey substitute for the mask a handkerchief tied over the eyes, so that they can penetrate into the spirit-world by their inner sight. This use of a handkerchief is also mentioned by Wierbicki, who says that the shamans of northern Altai wear one round the fore- head to keep the hair out of the eyes.
These four accessories — the coat, the mask, the cap, and the iron plate— are used by the Neo-Si])erians only, since among Palaeo-Siberians the dress is much less complicated.
Each tribe has, moreover, some particular object which plays the chief part in the shamanistic ceremony.
Gmelin,'-^ describing the Tungus shaman's costume, says that over the usual shamanistic garment an apron, adorned with iron, is also worn ; his stockings, likewise remarkable, are made of skin
* Shamanism in Siberia, p. 8(5. ^ Reise diirch Sibinen, ii, 193.
204 RELIGION
ornamented with iron. Among the Gilyak and the Olchi it is the shaman's girdle which is of the greatest significance ; ^ among the Buryat,- the horse-staves, &c. Iron and copper objects seem also to be especially associated with the Neo-Si)jerians.
The whole costume with its appurtenances used during sha- manistic performances throughout Siberia has, according to Mikhailowski,"' a threefold significance :
1. The shaman wishes to make a profound impression on the eyes of the people by the eccentricity of his costume.
2. The ringing of the bells and the noise of the drum impress their sense of hearing.
3. Finall)', a symbolic meaning is attached to these accessories and adornments, a meaning known only to believers, especially to the shamans, and closely connected with the religious conceptions of shaman sim.
Thus Mikliailowski. But this interpretation does not bring out the whole imi)ortance of the relation of these objects to the spiritual world. They are of great importance, for the spirits will not hear the voice of the shaman unless the right dress and im- plements are used, and the drum beaten ; they are sacred because of their contact with a supernatural and often dangerous power.
Being sacred, these accessories must not be used by any one but a shaman, otherwise they are impotent to produce any result. It is only a good shaman, a real one, who can possess the full shaman's dress.
Among the Palaeo-Siberians it is usually the shaman himself who makes all accessories, and that only when the spirits give their permission. Among the natives of Altai it is not all shamans wdio have the right to wear manyah (the coat) and the owl- skin cap.*
Among the Yakut even the blacksmith, who undertakes the oi-namentation of the costume, must have inherited the right. ' If the blacksmith who makes a shamanistic ornament has not a sufficient number of ancestors, if ho is not surrounded on all sides by the noise of hammering and the glow of fire, then birds with crooked claws and beaks will tear his heart in pieces." ' For this
' Schrenck, The Natives of the Amur Country, iii, 124-6. ^ Agapitott" and Khangalotf, J/rt<(-r/rt/.s- /or the Study of Shamanism in Siberia, p. 43.
^ Shatnanisin, p. 72.
* Potanin, Sketches of Xorth-Wesfern Monyolia, iv, 53.
^ Sieroszewski, The Yakut, p. 632.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 205
reason the blacksmitlrs vocation comes next in importance to the shaman's. In modern times it is practically impossible among the Yakut for the shamans coat to be made, since there is now no class of hereditary blacksmiths. In his description of the Tungus shaman's garment. Gmelin relates how the shaman whom he saw had no cap because the old one was burnt and the spirits would not grant him a new one.^ Of the Buryat shamans he observes that many of them do not possess drums, since the spirits with- hold permission to make them, and two long sticks which are stiaick crosswise against each other are therefore substituted at the performance.'- Mikhailowski quotes the above statement in explanation of the fact that Khangaloff had seen only one drum among the Buryat shamans.
* With the degeneration of shamanism ', says Mikhailowski, ' the number of people who know how to prepare the sacred instrument with due regard to magical custom is decreasing.' ^ This, however, is not the true explanation of the disappearance of the drum among the Buryat, for the importance of the other chief Buryat accessory, the horse-staves, which demand equal cai-e in the making, must also be taken into account. Without them the shaman cannot perform any of the principal rites. They are usually made of birch-wood, no one but a shaman who has passed his fifth con- secration being allowed to use iron horse-staves.'* The Lapps take great care of their drum and keep it covered up with furs. No woman may touch it.
A. Palaeo-Siberians.
The ChuTccJice. Among Palaeo-Siberians there are no strict regu- lations as to the shape and quality of the shaman's dress. Origi- nality of costume is what is most sought after, and Bogoras tells us that the Chukchee shamans sometimes adopt some old coat brought from the American shore. * The Chukchee have nothing similar to the well-known type of coat covered with fringes and images, which is in general use among the Yakut and Tungus, and which probal)ly was borrowed from the latter by the Yukaghir and perhaps also by the Kamchadal.'"'
The absence of a peculiar shaman's dress among the Chukchee V
' Op. cit., p. 193.
* These are probably what are called by later writers ' horse-staves '. ?? Op. cit., p. 68. " Klementz, E. It. E., p. 16.
'' The Chukchee, pp. 457-8.
206 RELIGION
may ))e accounted for by tlie fact that the shamans pertorm their ceremonies in the darkness of the inner room of the house, in an atmosphere so hot and stifling that they are obliged to take off their coats and to shanianize with tlie uppei- part of the body quite naked.
The only shamanistic garments that Bogoras speaks of are a coat and a cap. "As far as I know,' he says, 'among the other neighbouring tribes also female shamans have no outward dis- tinguishing mark, nor do they use the special shamanistic garb which is assigned only to the male shamans.'^
After this statement the custom among certain tribes of the adoption by tlie male shaman of the clothes and manner of a woman appears still more strange. The shamanistic coat is characterized Dy a fringe round the sleeves a little above the opening, or round the neck a little below the collar. This coat may be adopted by the shaman or by the patient. Besides the fringe there are slits ornamented with cured leather. ' These slits and fringes are usually said to represent the curves and zigzags of the Milky Way. '2
But if we remember the many other ways in which the Chukchee shaman imitates the Tungus shaman, we may conclude that both slits and fringes in the shamanistic coat are but another instance of the same imitation. The garment represented in Bogoras's book has in front of it an image of tetheyun, that is, ' vital force ', which resides in the heart and assumes its form. It is made like a leather ball and filled with reindeer-hair. The other figure, likewise of leather, represents a reH-en, or 'assisting' spirit of the shaman.^
The shamanistic cap is also supplied with fringes, with a tassel on the top and a long double tassel on the left side. The tassels are of the type adopted for magic purposes, that is, they are formed of alternating pieces of white and black fur. ' Another cap with the opening on top, and likewise fringed and tasselled, was used by the shaman as a I'emedy against headache.''*
In addition to these garments, the Chukchee shaman uses in his performances many small instruments, such as the knife, the handle of which is embellished with magical objects, and a small flat piece of ivory, which is said to be usually employed when cutting open a body. The ivory of the shaman, ' Scratching- Woman ', had three
1 Op. cit., p. 458. 2 Op. cit., p. 459. ' Ibid. ?? Op.cit., p. 460.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 207
leather images fastened to it. 'One was said to represent a feZe from the "direction" of the darkness, with the arms longer than the legs. The middle image with only one arm and one leg, and with the two eyes one above the other, represented the kele lunietun. The third image represented a crawling " spell '' sent by an enemy of the shaman, who intercepted it on the way and thoroughly sub- dued it so that it began to do his bidding.' ' These different amulets, in the form of pendants and tassels, are made of skin and beads by the shaman himself, and are fastened to various parts of the body or dress. Such are also the "round patches of skin, often with a tassel in the centre',^ which are considered highly effective amulets among the Chukchsp, the Koryak, and the Asiatic Eskimo. They are sewn to the coat, on the breast or on the shoulders, or against the affected part of the body. An image of the ' guardian ' is placed in the middle, and is often replaced by an ornamental figure of a woman, of a dancing man, or of a warrior. These objects, as well as those already mentioned, serve both a magical and an ornamental purpose.
The most imjiortant object in shamanistic performances all over I Siberia is the drum. Thus the Chukchee use the drum which is common to both Asiatic and American Eskimo.
The drum used by the Reindeer and Maritime Chukchee is different from that adopted in north-western Asia by the Yakut, Tungus, Koryak, Kamchadal, and Yukaghir, which is rather of a southern type.
The southern drum is large and somewhat oval in shape, and is held by four loose bands, which are fastened to the hoop of the drum on the inner side. The other ends of these bands meet in the middle, where they are tied to a small wheel or a cross, which is without any other support. When these are grasped by the liand the drum hangs loosely, and may be shaken and its position changed at will. The drum-stick is made of wood and covered with skin or with cured leather.
The Chukchee drum has a wooden handle "• which is lashed with sinews to the wooden hooix The diameter of the hoop, which is nearly circular in shape, is from 40 to 50 centimetres. The head is made of very thin skin, usually the dried skin of a walrus's stomach. In order to stretch the skin it is moistened with water or wine, and the edge is then tied with sinew cord. The ends of
' Op. cit., p. 466. 2 Op. cit., p. 468.
' According to Mr. Henry Balfour this shows Eskimo influence.
208 RELIGION
this cord are fastened to the handle. The drum is very h'ght, weighing from half a pound to a pound and a half. The drum- stick varies according to its purpose. It is either a narrow, light strip of whalebone from 30 to 40 centimetres long, or a piece of wood from 60 to 70 centimetres long, which is sometimes adorned with fur tassels. The former is used during the magical performances held in the inner room at night, the latter during ceremonials performed in the outer tent during the day.^
When the family is moving from place to place, the cover of the drum is removed, folded, and fastened to the hooj) to be replaced when needed. In the winter house the drum remains in front of the sleeping-place, and in the summer tent it hangs near the sacred fire-board.
Tlic Koriialc. The shaman accessories of the Koryak, another Palaeo-Siberian tribe, are described by Jochelson as follows : ' The Koryak shamans have no drums of their own ; they use the drums belonging to the family in whose house the shamanistic per- formance takes place. It seems that they wear no special dress ; at least the shamans whom I had occasion to observe wore ordinary clothing.' -
One embroidered jacket, which was sold to Jochelson as an Alutor shaman's dress, is very much like the ordinary man's dancing-jacket used during the whale ceremony, but more elabo- rate. The Koryak drum belongs not to the shaman but to the family. It is used both as a musical instrument and as a sacred object in the household. Everybody who pleases can beat the drum, but there is usually one competent i^erson who knows how to shamanize with it.
The Koryak drum, iPjai, is oval in shape and covered with reindeer-hide on one side only, its diameter being 73 centimetres. The drumstick is made of thick whalebone, wider at the end with wdiich the drum is struck, and this end is covered with the skin of a wolf's tail.
Inside the drum at four points in the rim a double cord of nettle fibre is fastened and joined l)elow to form the handle. These cords run towards one side of the drum. On the top of the inside rim is attached an iron rattle. Jochelson says that this custom of attaching the rattle has been borrowed from the Tungus and that not all Koryak drums possess it.^
^ Bogoras, Tlte Chidrhee, pp. 356-7.
2 The Kori/al; pp. 54-5. "" Op. cit., p. 56.
THE ACCESSORIES OF THE SHAMAN 209
Tlic KamcJiadal {Ifelmen). Among- the Kamchadal there is apparently no shamanistic garment or drum. Two early travel- lers to their country. Steller and Krasheninnikoflf. say that everybody, especiallj' women, could shamanize. and hence this occupation was not professional enough to demand a special dress.
The Yiilaijliir. The Yukaghir drum is a rough oval. It is covered with hide on one side onl5\ Inside the drum there is an iron cross near the centre, which serves as a handle. The ends of the cross are fastened with straps to the rim, to which four iron rattles are attached.^ There is a great similarity between the Yukaghir and the Yakut drum, not only in the iron rattles, iron cross, and general shape, but also in the small protuberances on the outer surface of the rim, which according to the Yakut represent the horns of the shaman's spirits. The stick is covered with the skin of a reindeer's leg. In Yukaghir traditions the drum without metallic additions is still traceable, the iron pieces having been borrowed from the Yakut.
The Yukaghir word for drum is yalgil, which means 'lake', that is, the lake into which the shaman dives in order to descend into the shadow-world.'^
The Eskimo. This is very much like the conception of the Eskimo, the souls of whose shamans descend into the lower Avorld of the goddess Sedna. The Eskimo drums are not large ; the largest are to be found at Hudson Bay. They are either symmetrically oval or round, and a wooden handle is fastened to the rim. J. Murdoch^' says that such drums are used by the Eskimo from Greenland to Siberia. The Eskimo as well as the Chukchee beat the lower part of the drum with the stick. The Koryak drum also is struck from below, and is held in a slanting position. Other Asiatic drums are mostly beaten in the centre. Among the Indians living south of the Eskimo Ave find broad-rimmed drums used for purposes of shamanism, as well as in dancing-houses.'^
Tlie Gih/aJc. The most important accessories of the Gilyak shaman are the drum, Jias, and the shaman's girdle, yangpa. Schrenck gives us the following description of them : ' One night when I Avas sitting in a tent in the village of Yrri, they brought in two shamans' drums and other accessories, and at my request
» Ibid. 2 Op. cit., p. 59.
'?' A Point Barrow EsVtmo, 1887-8, p. 385. * Jochelson, Tlie Koryak, p. 58.
1679 p
210 RELIGION
they allowed me to be present at the pro]iara,tioii for the ceremony. First of all the drum was heated l)y the fire, to make the hide taut, so that the sound might be more sonorous.' The drum was made of the skin of a fj^oat or reindeer, and whilst it was l)ein.<>' i>repared the shaman made ready. lie took off his outer garment, put on the so-called losha, a short apron, and tied round his head a band of grass, the end of which hung over his shoulders like a tress of hair. Then he took the shaman's leather girdle, with many iron plates,- copper hoops, and other metal pendants, which produce a loud clanking noise during the shamanistic dances.' This girdle is called in Olcha dialect //anr/pa. Its chief pendant is a large copper disk with a small handle ornamented in relief, showing Manclui influence ; this circle, called tolr, makes the most im- portant sound. There are also many iron links called tasso, and many irregular pieces of iron called kijire, which make a very loud noise ; a few rolled iron plates called l-onf/oro, and, finally, some small copper Ijells M'ithout tongues, called IvnqoJdo. When the girdle is put on all these objects hang together at the back. This shamanistic girdle is of considerable weight,''
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104 KELIGION and drawing a few long, almost hysterical breaths, would imme- diately proceed to foretell the future. He talked to many people present, one by one. When he was through with one case, he would stop for a while, as if recollecting himself, and then, after several deep-drawn sighs, would pass on to the next applicant.' ^ C. Incantation shamans [ewganva-t'irgin, ' producing of incan- tations '), who carry on the more complicated practices of sha- manism. Incantations, together with spells, form the greater part of Chukchee magic. The incantations may be of a benevolent or malevolent character. Hence there are two types of shamans in this class : 1. 'Well-minded' {ten-cimnulln), who \Ay tlieir art in order to help sufferers. 2. 'Mischievous' {l;urg-cncnUit, or Icunich-enenilit, literally 'mock- ing shamans '), who are bent on doing harm to people. Good shamans have a red shamanistic coat and bad shamans a black one. The same colours are used by the Yukaghir shamans. The majority of shamans, however, coml)ine in themselves the gifts of all these categories and in the name of 'spirits' perform various tricks, foretell the futui'e, and pronounce incantations. The Neo-Siberians. TJte YaJcut. Troshchanski - suggests that the division of shamans into black and white is the most essential division among all Sil)erian tribes, though many travellers speak of shamans in a general way as if there were only one kind. It would seem, however, that Troshchanski overlooks the distinction between the religious conceptions of the Palaeo-Siberians and those of the Neo-Siberians. They live under different environ- mental conditions ; and, besides, the Neo-Siberians have un- doubtedly been to i-ome extent influenced by contact with the higher Asiatic religions. It is among the Neo-Siberians that magico-religious dualism appears more distinctl)'. Again, within the class of Neo Siberians themselves differences are found. Among the Yakut "' the black shamans predominate, the Avliite hardly existing ; while among ' Op. cit., p. 431. - Troshchanski, The Evolution of the Black Faith, 1902, p. iii. =* Op. cit., p. 110. TYPES OF SHAMANS 105 the Voty.ik tlio white are ahuost the only shaiiKins now to be foinul, as the cult of the bright god has almost entirely displaced that of the black. The Yakut white shamans are called a'iif-ohOHi. They take part in the spring festivals, marriage ceremonies, fertilization rites, and the curing of diseases, in cases where li(t has not yet been taken away from the patient.^ We read in a certain tale that at one wedding there were piesent nine aiij-oitina (white men-shamans) and eight aqi-udagana (white women-shamans).^ White shamans also ask, in cases of the sterility of women, the maghan sylgiilalcli to descend to earth and make the woman fertile. At the autumn fishing, in former times, they lighted torches made of wood cut from a tree struck by lightning, purged the waters of all uncleanness, and asked the ichchi (spirit-owner) of the lake for a benefit. This, he considers, was certainly done by white shamans, if only for the reason that the ceremony was held in the daytime.^ But, on page 105 of the same work, Troshchanski writes : ' Only the spring festivals were called liiii-iisiialh ; the autumn festivals were known as ahassij- i/si/alh.' Hence the ceremony of fertilization of the lake must have l>een performed l)y black shamans, ahas>:i/-oiuna, in spite of the fact that this ceremony was held in the daytime. As to the characters of the two kinds of shamans, Gorokhoff says that he knew personally several ai/j-ohiua, who were very good people indeed, quiet, delicate, and really honest, while the abassy-oiiina were good for nothing.^ But Troshchanski says that the ' black shaman ' among the Y^'akut is only professionally * black ', that his attitude has no specially evil character, and that he helps men no less than the white shaman does. He is not necessarily bad, though he deals with evil powers, and he occupies among the Yakut a higher position than among other Neo- Siberians. Black shamans offer sacrifices to ahass/jlar and shamanize to maintain their prestige. They foretell the future, call up spirits, wander into spirit-land, and give accounts of their journeys thither. '5 At the present day there are among the Yakut special story- tellers and also special sorcerers {apfah-kisi). > Op. cit., p. 149. * Kbudiakoft", Verkhoyansk Antholofjy, p. 88. ' Troshchanski, ibid. * Gorokhoft; YuvungUolan, E. S. S. 1. R. G. S., 1887, p. 56. * Troshchanski, op. cit., p. 152. o 2 11»G RELIGION According to the degree of esteem in which they are held by the people, Sieroszowski ' classifies Yakut shamans as follows : (1) The Great Shaman — nlahan-oiitn. (2) The Middling Shaman — orto-o'lun. ( The Little Shaman — Iccnniki-o'iun. A ' great shaman ' has the amCuijiat from Tlu-To'icn himself. A shaman of middling power also possesses (imari>/af, but not of so high a quality or to so great an extent as the former. A ' little shaman ' does not possess amiigi/af. He is not, in fact, really a shaman, but a person in some way abnormal, neurotic, or original, who can cure trifling illnesses, interpret dreams, and frighten away small devils only. With regard to the classification of shamans into ' white ' and ' black ', Troshchanski puts forward the hypothesis that these two classes of shamans originated and developed independently : ' One might imagine that the class of white shamans came into existence first, and that it derived from the class of heads of families and clans. The custom of the choice of one leader (shaman) for common ceremonies or sacrifices may have helped in this evolution of the white shaman from the heads of families. The wisest and most respected member of the community would probably have the best chance of being chosen, as he could please not only the people but also the spirits.'^ The same persons might then have been chosen repeatedly, and presently a class of white shamans might arise for the communal cults and sacrifices. In the meantime the head of the family could still keep his priestly power in his own home, until the professional shaman took his place, as we see at the present day among certain tri])es, e.g. the Yakut.-' Why should we regard the head of the family as the prototype of the white shaman ? We shall find in Troshchanski's book no more satisfactory reply to this question than is contained in the following short passage : ' I think we are right in saying that the heads of the familj', or the chosen priests, in their practice and i)rayers do not address themselves to the evil spirits, which in Yakut are called abassylar; hence it is here that we find the origin of white shamans.*^ If we follow Troshchanski, we must draw the conclusion that ' Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 628. - Troshchanski, op. cit., p. 120. 3 Op. cit., p. 124. " Op. cit., p. 113. TYPES OF SHAMANS 197 among the Neo-Siberians. e.g. the Buryat and the Yakut, the white shamans form a quite distinct chiss, although we see that on certain occasions the head of the family may take the place of the white shaman : ^Taihjan is a communal sacrifice in which the whole family or clan takes part. This ceremony is designed to show humilitj- : the BurN'at call it the ''asking ceremony". The performer of taihjan may be the shaman, or the whole group of family heads without the assistance of a shaman.'^ Among the Palaeo-Siberians there is no class of white shamans, and the family cult is in the hands of the father, assisted by the mother, the participation of professional shamans being often prohibited. Among the Gilyak the assistance of shamans at sacrificial feasts, e.g. the bear-ceremonial, is even forbidden. Is this because there is no white shaman among these people ? Or is it an indication that, after all, family and professional shamanism have developed separately? Among the Yakut, from the observation of whom Troshchanski formed his hypothesis, the white shaman may be a woman, in cases where the woman stands as family head.- Now as to the black shamans, they were originally women, says Troshchanski, and he draws attention to the following linguistic and sociological jiarticulars wliich are made to act as evidence in support of his hypothesis. What is the essential meaning of the word shaman? In Sanskrit ^ram = to be tired, to become weary; ha))iana = work, religious mendicant. In the Pali language the word samana has the same meaning. These two latter words have been adopted by the Buddhists as names for their priests."' But, according to Banzaroff, the word sltanian originated in northern Asia : sainan is, a Manchu word, meaning ' one who is excited, moved, raised ' ; mmmun (pronounced shaman) and hamman in Tungus have the ^ Agai^itoff and KhangalofF, Materials for the Study of Shamanism in Siberia, E. S. S. I. R. G. S., p. 36. * How this may occur, in the patriarchal Yakut family, Troshchanski explains as follows : ' Each wife of a polygynous Yakut lived separately with her children and relations and cattle ; during the frequent absences of her husband she was actually the head of the family, and performed family ceremonials. Several such ye-usa (matriarchal famiUes) formed one aga-usa (imtriarchal family) ' (p. 116). ^ I am indebted for this information to Mr. M. de Z. Wickremasinghe, Lecturer in Tamil and Telugu in the University of Oxford. 198 RELIGION same ineaiiing. Sdnidamhi is Manchu : 'I shamanize ', i.e. *I call the spirits tlaiK-iny before the charm.' ^ From the above we see that the essential characteristic of a shaman is a liability to nervous ecstasy and trances. Women are more prone to emotional excitement than men: among the Yakut most of the women suffer from mcncriJc (a nervous disease, one type of the so-called 'Arctic hysteria ').'- Thus Troshchanski. But the only conclusion — if any — that he could draw from this would be tliat women are ]>y nature more disposed to shamanizing than men. And why should this make her the original llacJc shaman ? Only one piece of evidence is adduced to connect women with ' black ' shamanizing, and that is taken from Kamchadal life, not from that of the Yakut, upon which chiefly he grounds his hypothesis. Among the most primitive Kamchadal, Avhere there were only women (or loel- clmeh) shamans, these practised only black shamanism, sum- moning evil spirits.^ As to the linguistic evidence : Among the Mongols, Buryat, Yakut, Altaians, Torgout, Kidan, Kirgis, there is one general term for a woman-shaman, which has a slightly different form in each tribe : utugun, udagan, udayhan, nhalchan, iitygan, vtiugioi, idiian (duana) ; whereas the word for man-shaman is different in each of these tribes. In Yakut he is called ohm ; in Mongol, huge ; Buryat, huge and ho ; Tungus, samman and hamman ; Tartar, Jcam ; Altaian, Imn and gam ; Kirgis, halsa {hasl'g) ; Samoyed, tadihcij. From the above Troshchanski concludes that during the migra- tion of the Neo-Siberians they had only women-shamans, called by a similar general name ; and that the men-shamans appeared later, when these people scattered, settling in lands distant from one another, so that the term for man-shaman originated in- dependently in each tribe."^ Of course this linguistic evidence concerns only the Xeo- and not the Palaeo-Siberians. Troshchanski gives us further the following religio-social evi- dence, drawn exclusively from the Yakut, in support of his ^ Zakliaroff, CoDrplctc Mcnichii-Iiui^siaii Didioiuoy, 1875, p. 568. ^ Troshchanski, op. cit., p. 119. ^ Krasheniiiuikoft', Description of the Country of Kanichatlrt, pp. 81-2. ?* Troshchanski, op. cit., p. 118. TYPES OF SHAMANS 199 hypothesis of the evolution of the 'black* man-shainan from the * black ' woman-shaman : (a) On the Yakut shaman's apron there are sewn two iron circles, representing breasts.^ {h) The manshaman dresses his hair like a woman, on the two sides of the head, and braids it ; during a performance he lets the hair fall down.- ((•) Both women and shamans are forbidden to lie on the right side of a horse-skin in the ifioia.''' {d) The man-shaman wears the shaman's costume only on very important occasions ; in ordinal y circumstances he wears a girl's dress made of the skin of a foal.^ (e) During the first three days after a confinement, when Ayisit, the deity of fecundity, is supposed to be near the M-oman who is lying-in, access to the house where she is confined is forbidden to men, but not to shamans.'' How the female black shaman was displaced by the male black shaman Troshchanski explains as follows, again using exclusively Y'akut evidence : The smith who made the ornaments for the female shaman's garment acquired some sliamanistic power. He was in contact with iron, which was of magical importance, and power came to him througli this contact. (The smiths were, like the shamans, ' black ' and ' white ', but among the Y^'akut one hears more of 'black' smiths than of 'white'.) Thus the similarity between the vocation of a shaman and that of a smith becomes close, especially when the calling of smith descends through many generations in the same family. Smiths come to be considered as the elder brothers of shamans, and then the differences between them finally disappear, the smith becoming a shaman. The v.'oman, then, since she could not be a smith, had even- tually to give up her place to the man. In modern times, as there are no longer any ' magical smiths ', new shamanistic garments cannot be made.'' ' Krasheninnikoft', op. cit., pp. 81-2. ^ Ibid. ^ Troshchanski, op. cit., p. 123. * Ibid. ^ Ibid. " Troshchanski. op. cit.. p. 125. It will be interesting to quote here what Sieroszewski says about the vocation of the smith: 'Those who approach most nearly to the shamans in their office, and are partially related to them, are the smiths. "The smith and the shaman are of one nest", says a proverb of the Kolyma district. The smiths also can cure, advise, and foretell the future, but their knowledge does not possess 200 RELIGION This hypothesis of women being the first Ijlack shamans is, however, not borne out by the evidence. Even if we allow that the above quotations, especially that containing the linguistic evidence, tend to show that women were shamans before men. it does not follow that they were the first hkicJc shamans. There is not enough evidence in Troshchanski's book to support his hypothesis of two separate origins and developments for black and white shamans. On the other hand, the evolution which Troshchanski ascribes to black shamans might be ascriljed to professional shamanism, if we reject Jochelson's and Bogoras's view that professional de- veloped out of family shamanism. The Altaians. Wierbicki ^ says that among the Altaians, besides the shaman, called lam, there are also (i) rijnchi, ' who, during attacks accompanied by pain, can foretell the future ' ; (ii) telgochi, or 'guessers'; (iii) yarinchl, or those who can divine by means of the blade-bone ; (iv) Jcoll-lcurcchi, who divine from the hand ; (v) yadachi, who control the weather by means of a stone, yada-tash, which is found in narrow mountain defiles, where winds )dow continually. To obtain these stones a yadachi must swear away all his possessions. Hence he is poor, lonely, and usually a widower. Tlie Buryat. Among the Buryat, according to Shashkoff,- shamans are divided into {«) hereditary shamans and {b) shamans of the first generation. Another division is into («) real, (fc) false a magical character ; they arc simply clever people, who know much, and who i^ossess " peculiar fingers ". The profession of smith is gene- rally hei-editary, •especially in the north. It is in the ninth generation that a [hereditary] smith first acquires certain supernatural qualities, and the more ancient his ancestry, the more marked are these qualities. The spirits are generally afraid of iron hoops and of the noise made by the blowing of the smith's bellows. In the Kolyma district the shaman would not shamanize until I [Sieroszewski] removed my case of instru- ments ; and even then his bad luck in shamanizing was explained by him as due to the fact that, as he said, " the spirits are afraid of smiths [in this case Sieroszewski], and that is why they do not appear at my call." Only a smith of the ninth generation can, without harm to him- self, hammer out the iron embellishments of the shamanistic dress, the iron for the drum, or make ihndgyat. If the smith who makes a shaman- istic ornament has not a sufficient number of ancestors, if the noise of hammering and the glare of the fire does not surround him on all sides, then birds with crooked claws and beaks will tear his heart in pieces. Respectable hereditary smiths have tools possessed of" spirits " [ichchilah) which can give out sounds by themselves.' (Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 632.) ^ The yatired of the Altai, pp. 44-6. 2 Shashkoff, Shamanism iii Siberia, W. S. S. I. R. G. S., p. 82. TYPES OF SHAMANS 201 shamans. Again tliere are {a) white {sagan-ho) and {h) black {Juirahi-hd). The \Yhite and bhick shamans, the Buryat say, fight with each other, hurling axes at one another from distances of hundreds of miles. The white shaman serves the West tcngerl and West Ihafs, and has charge of the ceremonies held at birth, marriage, &c. He wears a white coat and rides a white horse. A famous white shaman was Barlak of the Balagansk district, at whose grave liis descendants still go to w'orship. The black shaman serves the tengcri and lihats of the East. These shamans are said to have power to bring illness and death upon men. They are not liked, but much feared, by the people, who sometimes kill black shamans, to such a point does this dislike develop.^ The grave of a black shaman is usually shaded )jy aspens, and the body is fastened to the earth by a stake taken from this tree. According to Agapitoff and Kangaloff, there are also a few shamans who serve both good and bad spirits at the same time. The Samoycd. Lepekhin - says that the Samoyed sliamans are not divided into distinct classes, black and white, as among the Buryat, but serve both for good and bad ends, as occasion arises. The Lapps likewise make no strict distinction between good shamans and bad. Some of the Lapp no//da (shamans) are known as ' Big ', and others as ' Little ', noyda. The VotyaJc. The whole Votyak hierarchy arose from the white shamans. The chief of the shamans is the tuno. At the present day the tuno^ is the chief upholder of the old religion. As the soul of a tuno is ' educated ' by the Creator, he is without doubt a white shaman. Besides the tnno, there are priests, chosen either by himself or by the people under his advice. ' In most cases the profession and knowledge of a tuno descend from father to son, althougli any person who has the opportunity of acquiring the knowledge necessary to a tuno can become one.'^
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A child chosen to be a shaman is recognized among the Buryat by the following signs - : ' He is often absorbed in meditation, likes to be alone, has mysterious dreams, and sometimes has fits during which he is unconscious.' According to the Buryat beliefs, the soul of a child is then in process of being trained, among the ' West Tengeris ' if he is to be a ' white ' shaman, among the ' East Tengeris ' if he is to become a ' black ' one. Living in the dwelling of the gods, his soul, under the tutelage of deceased shamans, learns the various secrets of the shaman's vocation ; the soul must remember the names of the gods, the places where they live, the means by which they may be propitiated, and the names of the spirits which are subordinate to the high gods. After a period of trial the soul of the child returns to the body, which for a time resumes its normal life. But on his reaching adolescence, peculiar symptoms show themselves in the person who has under- gone these experiences. He becomes moody, is easily excited into a state of ecstasy, leads an irregular life, wandering from ulus to nlos to watch the shamanistic ceremonies. He gives himself up with great earnestness to exercises in the shamanistic arts, for which purpose he segregates himself, going to some high mountain or into the forest, where, before a great fire, he calls on the spirits,
' Pripuzoff, Materials for the Study of Shamanism amotuj the Yakut, pp. 64-5.
* Agapitoff and Khangaloff, Materials for the Study of Shamanism in Siberia, pp. 42-53.
18G RELIGION
and afterwards falls into a swoon. In the meanwhile, to prevent him from doing himself an injury, his friends keej^ watch over him unobtrusively.
While the novice is preparing himself for his new life, his relations call in a good shaman, who makes a sacrifice to propitiate the spirits and induce them to help the young shaman-to-be. If the future shaman belongs to a poor family, the whole community helps to procure the sacrificial animals and other things which are indispensaljle for the ceremonies.
The preparatory period lasts for several years, its length depending largely on the capacity of the young man. He cannot, however, become a shaman until he reaches the age of twenty. Finally he undergoes a purification ceremony. One such ceremony does not confer all the rights and powers of a shaman ; there are, in fact, nine. But very few shamans go through all these purifi- cations ; most only undergo two or three ; some, none at all. for they dread the responsibilities which devolve upon consecrated shamans. To a fully consecrated shaman the gods are very severe, and punish his faults or mistakes with death.
The first consecration ceremony is preceded by a purification of water. For this an experienced old shaman, called the • father- shaman ', is chosen, together with nine young men to be his assistants. These are spoken of as his ' sons '. The water for the ablution must be drawn from a spring — sometimes from three springs. They go in the morning of the day of consecration to fetch the water, taking with them turasun ^, with which they make a libation to the master- and mistress-spirits of the spring. As tliey return, they pluck up from the earth birch-seedlings, of which they make a broom, and take it to the house of the novice. Next the water is heated over a fire, and into it are thrown certain herbs and pieces of bark. Then from the ears of a he-goat pre- pared beforehand they cut pieces of hair, and some shavings from its horns and hoofs, and throw these also into the pot. The he-goat is then killed in such a manner that its blood drips into the pot. Then only is the water ready for the consecration ceremony. The flesh of the goat is given to the women present, who cook and eat it.
Now tlie father-shaman foretells the future from a sheep's shoulder-blade. He summons the shamanist ancestors of the
^ A native Buryat drink, coiuposed of milk and wine, called also 'wine of milk'.
THE SHAMAN 187
novice, and oft'ers libations of wine and tarasmi. Then he dips the birch-broom into the water and beats the candidate on the naked back, as do also the nine ' sons " of the ' fathor-shaman ', saying at the same time : ' When tlioii art called to a poor man, ask little in return for your trouble, and take what is given. Take care of the poor always, help them, and pray to the gods to defend them against the power of evil spirits. If thou art called by a rich man. go to him riding on a l)ullock, and do not ask much for your trouble. If thou art called at the same time by a poor and by a rich man, go first to the poor.' The candidate repeats these precepts after the shaman, and promises to observe them.
Then follows a libation of farasun to the guardian spirits ; this closes the ceremony.
The purification of a shaman by water is performed at least once a year, but sometimes once a month, at the new moon ; or else at any other time when he considers himself to have been defiled, e. g. by touching some unclean object. If the defilement is especially gross, then purification is performed with blood. The shaman also purifies himself after a death has occurred in the
This ceremony is followed after some time by the first consecra- tion, called Jcherege-kkulkhe, the expenses of which are shared by the community. Again a ' father-shaman ' and nine ' sons ' are chosen, and they, accompanied by the novice, ride on horseback from yurta to yurta, collecting offerings. Before each yarta they stop and announce their coming with a shout. They are hospitably entertained, and offerings of different kinds — votive handkerchiefs, Avhich are tied to a birch staff carried by the novice, and sometimes money — are brought to them. They buy wooden cups, little bells tied to horse-staves, wine, &c. The day before the ceremony a certain number of stout birches are cut from the groves by the ' sons ' under the direction of the ' father-shaman ' ; from the straightest of these they make horse-staves. The grove from which these are taken is one in which the dead of the hIus are buried, and for the propitiation of the spirits there they make offerings of mutton and tarasun. At the same time they prepare the shaman's accessories, and meanwhile other shamans of similar standing with the ' father-shaman ' summon the spirits.
1 Ibid.
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In tlie morning of the day of the consecration the birch-trees cut the day before are planted. The stoutest birch, which has its roots still attached to it, they plant in the south-west corner of the yurta, where the ground is left bare for the fire ; the top of the tree projects through the smoke-hole above. This birch represents symbolically the porter-god who allows the shaman ingress into heaven. It points the way by which the shaman can reach the sky, and remains permanently in the yurta as a sign that the dwelling is that of a shaman. The other birches are planted in front of the yurta in the place where sacrifices are usually oifered, in the following order, from west to east :
(i) A birch under which, on a carpet of felt, is placed some tarasun. To the branches of this ribbons of black and yellow are tied if the shaman is to be ' black ', of white and blue if he is to be a ' white ' shaman, and of all four colours if he is to serve both kinds of spirits.
(ii) A birch to which are tied a big bell and the sacrificial horse.
(iii) A fairly stout birch which the novice has to climb. — These three trees are planted with their roots, and are called serge (posts).
(iv) Nine saplings, in groups of three, the saplings in each group being bound together with a rope made of white horsehair. To these are tied ribbons of different colours in the following order — white, blue, red, yellow, and so on again. On the saplings are hung skins of animals.
(v) Nine posts to which sacrificial animals are tied.
(vi) Some stout birches to which the bones of the sacrificial animals are tied after being bound up in straw. These birches form a row.
From the principal birch in the yurta to all those which stand outside are led two ribbons, red and blue. This is a symbolical representation of the path of the shaman to the spirit-world. To the north of the row of birches are placed nine pots for cooking the sacrificial meat.
When evei-ything is ready, the novice and the others who take part in the ceremony don their ceremonial dress. Then the shaman's accessories are blessed, after which the horse-staves are said to turn into real horses. All the morning the assembled shamans have been summoning the spirits and sprinkling tarasun. The ' father-shaman ' now calls upon the guardian gods, and the novice repeats after him the words of his invocation. The candi-
THE SHAMAN 189
date climbs the birch inside the ifurta, gets on to the roof, and from there summons the spirits in a loud voice. When the moment comes for leaving the >/urfa. four shamans take hold of a certain felt carpet, each by a corner.' Just outside the entrance to the >)Uffa a fire is made, and various herbs are thrown into it : everybody and everything which passes over the fire is purified by it.
The people leave the ifuria in the following order: first the 'father-shaman', then the candidate, then the nine 'sons', and finally the relatives and guests.
The ceremony ends with feasts and sacrifices.^
Among the Samot/ed and Ostyah of the Turukhan country the future shaman spends his youth in exercises which stimulate his nerves and excite his imagination. ^ At the consecration of a novice, according to Tretyakoff,^ he must stand with his face towards the west, while the officiating shaman asks the Dark Spirit to help the candidate and to give him a spirit to serve him. At the end of the ceremony the shaman sings a hymn in praise of the Dark Spirit, and the novice repeats it after him. The beginner is tested by the spirits, who recj[uire of him certain sacrifices, as of his wife or son, and he has to promise them various other sacrifices.
Both Castren ' and Islavin ^' speak of the special training of the novice by an old shaman. One of the Samoyed shamans told Castren of how he was entrusted to the care of an old shaman for training, when he was fifteen, as he (the candidate) came of an
^ According to Potanin, the felt carpet alluded to by Agapitoff and Khangaloff provides the means of performing what is considered the most essential part of the ceremony. The novice is can-ied on it, by the four shamans mentioned, out of the yu)-ta to the row of nine birches. Of the moment of his elevation on the carpet, they say ho heyde, ' the shaman ascends'. On reaching the birches, the shaman must leap from the carpet on to one of them, which he climbs. From the top of this birch he must jump to that of the one next to it, and so on to the end of the row, whence he must return in the same manner to his starting- point, and is then again placed on the carpet. After this ceremony the new shaman begins to shamanize, to foretell the future, and to heal the sick — but all this without the use of the drum. This accessory he is not permitted to acquire until after the third year from his consecration. (Potanin, Sketches of Notih-Western Monrjolia, vol. iv, pp. 58-9.) According to Agapitoff and Khangaloff (op. cit,, p. 141), the custom thus described by Potanin is peculiar to the Buryat of Balagansk.
^ Ibid. ^ Bielayewski, op. cit., p. 113.
* Tretyakoff, The Countnj of Tnrukhansk, pp. 210-12.
* Castren, Xordische Reisen and Forschuvgen, p. 191.
* Islavin, The Samoyed, their Home and Social Life, p. 109.
190 EELIGION
old shamanist family. The means of education was as follows : Two fadibei/ (shamans) blindfolded him with a handkerchief, and then beat him, one on the back of the head and the other on the shoulders, till his eyes were dazzled as with too much light, and he saw demons dancing on his arms and feet. It must bo remem- bered, of course, that he had been taught beforehand about the Samoyed world of spirits.^ In former times Lapland was a school of shamanism, and all neighbouring tribes sent youths thither to be trained as shamans.^ At present only among Kussian Lapps are noijda (shamans) to be found, and they are but degenerate copies of their predecessors.
' Castren, op. cit., p. 191.
2 Scheft'erus, Lapjionia, p. 120. N. Kh;inizin, Tlie XoijiU among the Ancient and the Modern Lapps.
CHAPTER IX TYPES OF SHAMANS
Palaeo-Siberians
In* this chapter, which deals ^Yith the different tj-pes of shamans, the duties of a shaman will be enumerated. In nearly- all the more advanced tril)es we shall see that certain shamans specialize in one sort of duty or another, while among the more primitive peoples each performs many different kinds of duties — a state of things made possible by the less complex nature of those duties. The high conception of a shaman's duties among certain tribes may be seen from Banzaroifs ideal picture of a Buryat shaman. He is (a) priest, {h) medicine-man, and (c) prophet.
(a) ' As a priest, he knows the will of the gods, and so declares to man what sacrifices and ceremonies shall be held ; he is an expert in ceremonials and prayers. Besides the communal cere- monies at which he officiates, he conducts also various private ceremonials."^
[h] As medicine-man, the shaman jierforms certain ceremonies to expel the evil spirit from the patient,
(c) As a prophet, he foretells the future either by means of the shoulder-l>lade of a sheep or by the flight of arrows.
This ideal type of shaman was probably rare even in Banzaroff's time, for he himself says that the shaman was not present at all communal sacrifices.'- It is the same with some family sacrifices : the onyons are fed by the master of the house ; and certain other sacrifices, as, for instance, those offered at child-birth, are made without the assistance of the shaman.^'
The fact that a communal or family ceremony is sometimes presided over by the head of the commune or family, or that a private individual occasionally performs divination, does not alter the fact that the original type of Buryat shaman had the performance of all these rites in his hands.* They had among the
' Banzaroff, Black Faith, 1893, pp. 107-15. = Ibid.
' Klementz, E.R.E., 'The Buriats', p. 13. ' Ibid.
192 KELIGION
Mongols in the time of Djingis Khan, when the shamans were at the heiglit of their power.^ We cannot therefore agree with Mr. Mikhailowski, wlio says, ' Of all the actions of the shaman, the most characteristic of his calling is what is known as Jcamlanie,' i. e. invocations of spirits.- Although it may be that in the decadence of his office a shaman is sometimes nowadays no more than a medicine-man, even now in certain places shamans are present, not only at communal, hut also at family rites, and even when not so present we find in the rites traces of their original participation.
The Konjalc. Among the Koryak, as among the Palaeo-Siberians and most Neo-Siberian tribes, we may distinguish •' (1) family shamans, and (2) professional shamans.
Family shamanism is connected with the domestic hearth, Avhose w^elfare is under its care. The family shaman has charge of the celebration of family festivals, rites, and sacrificial cere- monies, and also of the use of the family charms and amulets, and of their incantations.
Professional shamans are those who are not definitely attached to a certain group of people. The more powerful they are, the wider is the circle in which they can practise their art.
' There is no doubt that professional shamanism has developed from the ceremonials of family shamanism', says Jochelson.'* It seems, however, necessary to add another category of (3) com- munal shamans, forming a transitional class between family and professional shamans. These shamans have to deal with a group of families taking part in important ceremonials. The admission of this third category must not be taken to mean that we agree unconditionally with the idea that the professional shaman is a development from the family, or the communal, shaman, though many practices, and the opinions of such serious investi- gators as Jochelson and Bogoras, lend some weight to this notion.
It was among the Koryak that professional shamans were first affected by Christianity.
The Chulchce. — Among the Chukchee, the above division into family and professional shamans needs to be supplemented, since we find '' that there exist three categories of professional shamans :
^ Mikhailowski, Sha»ia)iis>», p. 5<S. - Op. cit., p. 55.
^ Jochelson, The Kon/ok, p. 47. ?• Ibid.
^ Bogoras, The Chukchee, pp. 430-1.
TYPES OF SHAMANS 193
(A) Ecstatic shamans, (B) Shaman-prophets, (C) Incantation shamans.
Of course, the duties of the shamans of all these categories merge into each other ; still, a certain specialization is to be observed.
A. The ecstatic shaman communicates with 'spirits' and is called Jcalatkourgin.
'This includes all kinds of intercourse with "spirits" which become apparent to the listeners ; that is, the voices of "spirits" talking through the medium of the shaman, ventriloquistic per- formances, and other tricks — generally speaking, the whole spec- tacular part of shamanism, which forms the main content of the shamanistic seances.* As observed aliove, 'all this is often con- sidered merely as a kind of jugglery. For performances of this sort, young people are said to be better adapted than older ones. With increasing years some of the shamans discontinue most of these tricks.'^
B. The shaman-prophet, i.e. one who is 'looking into', hefola- tirr/in.
'This branch of Chukchee shamanism is held in the highest veneration, l)ecause the shaman possessing it has the faculty of seeing the danger lying in wait for the people, or the good in store for them, and accordingly he is able to advise them how to avoid the first and to secure the second. Most of the instructions given are of a ritualistic kind, and refer to certain details of such and such a ceremonial, which must be arranged after a certain manner in order to secure the desired result.' -
There are shamans who, though they have Idef at their disposal, cannot give any advice ; while others, on the other hand, cannot communicate with ' spirits ', but ' give magical advice as a kind of internal subjective inspiration, after self-communion for a few moments. These, notwithstanding the simplicity of their pro- ceedings, usually enjoy the highest consideration of their neigh- bours.'^
For instance, the shaman Galmuurgin was said by the Chukchee to be ' (with) only his (own) body ' {em-iviMl'm), because no other }>eings helped him with their inspiration.
'When giving a seance, he began l)y beating a drum and singing, but in a few minutes he would leave off the exercise,
' Bogoras, The Chukchee, p. 430. - Op. cit., p. 431. ^ Ibid.
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178 KELIGION
into tresses, and fixes the time when the spirit is to pass to his new master. The spirit, having changed owners, makes his new possessor suffer : if the new shaman does not feel these effects, it is a sign that he is not becoming proficient in his office,^
Among both the Yakut and the Buryat, although the office is not necessarily hereditary, it is usually so in part ; for it will generally happen that the shamanistic spirit passes from one to another of the same family.^
The Altaians believe that no one becomes a shaman of his own free will ; rather it comes to him nolens volens, like a hereditary disease. They say that sometimes when a young man feels premonitory symptoms of the call, he avoids shamans and shamanistic '^.eremonies, and by an effort of will occasionally cures himself. The period when the shamanistic call comes to the descendant of a shamanistic family is known as tes ha::in-yal, ' the ancestor (spirit) leaps upon, strangles him '.-^
B. The Shaman's Preparatory Period. I. Palaeo-Siberians.
Tlie Chiilchcc. The Chukchee call the preparatory period of a shaman by a term signifying 'he gathers shamanistic power'. For the weaker shamans and for female shamans the preparatory period is less painful, and the inspiration comes mainly through dreams.
But for a strong man this stage is very painful and long ; in some cases it lasts for one, two, or more years. Some j'oung people are afraid to take a drum and call on the 'spirits', or to pick up stones or other objects which might prove to be amulets, foi* fear lest the ' spirit " should call them to be shamans. Some 5^ouths prefer death to obedience to the call of spirits.* Parents possessing only one child fear his entering this calling on account of the danger attached to it ; but when the family is large, thej^ like to have one of its members a shaman. During the time of preparation the shaman has to pass through Ijoth a mental and a physical training. He is, as a rule, segregated, and goes either to the forests and hills under the jDretext of hunting or watching the herds, ' often without taking along any
1 TretyakofF, Tlie Counlt-y of Titnil-hansl; 1871, p. 223. ' Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 395; Potanin, Troshchanski, ^ Wierbicki, The Natives of the Altai, p. 44. * Bogoras, The Chukchee, p. 450.
THE SHAMAN 179
arms or tho lasso of the herdsman'^; or else lie remains in the inner room tho whole time. ' The young novice, the " newly inspired " (turene niivillin), loses all interest in the ordinary affairs of life. He ceases to work, eats but little and without relishing his food, ceases to talk to people, and does not even answer their questions. The greater part of his time he spends in sleep.' This is why 'a wanderer . . . must be closely watched, otherwise he might lie down on the open tundra and sleep for three or four days, incurring the danger in winter of Ijeing buried in drifting snow. When coming to himself after such a long sleep, he imagines that he has been out for only a few hours, and generally is not conscious of having slept in the wilderness at all.'-
However exaggerated this account of a long sleep may be, we learn from Bogoras that the Chukchee, when ill, sometimes 'fall into a heavy and protracted slumber, which may last many days, with only the necessary interrruptions for physical needs '/'
The Koryal;. The mental part of the training consists in coming into contact with the right spirits, i. e. with the spirits who are to be the shaman's protectors in his shamanistic practice. ' Every [Koryak] shaman ', says Jochelson, ' has his own guardian spirits, who help him in his struggle with disease — inflicting kalau in his rivalry with other shamans, and also in attacks upon his enemies. The shaman spirits usually appear in the form of animals or 1)irds. The most common guardian spirits are the wolf, the bear, the raven, the sea-gull, and the eagle.' ^ One of the two shamans whom Jochelson met among the Koryak related to him how the spirits of the wolf, raven, l^ear, sea-gull, and plover appeared to him (the shaman) in the desert — now in the form of men, now in that of animals — and commanded him to become a shaman, or to die. Thus we see that, while they are in solitude, ' the spirits appear to them in visible form, endow them with power, and instruct them.' But Bogoras describes the mental training of a new shaman differently. ' The process of gathering inspiration is so painful to young shamans, because of their mental struggle against the call, that they are sometimes said to sweat blood on the forehead and the temples. Afterwards every preparation of a shaman for a per- formance is considered a sort of repetition of the initiative process : hence it is said that the Chukchee shamans during that time are easily susceptible to haemorrhage, and even to bloody sweat. "^
' Op. cit., p. 420. " Op. cit., p. 421. ^ ji^j^i
* Jochelson, 77«e Koryak, p. 47. '' Bogoras, op. cit., p. 420.
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Bogoras himself saw two cases of nose-l)leeding and one of l)loody sweat among the shamans; but in the last instance he suspected the sliaman of smearing his temples with the blood from his nose.^
As to the physical training of a novice, he must learn singing, dancing, various tricks, including ventriloquism, and how to beat the drum.
'The beating of the drum, notwithstanding its seeming simplicity, requires some skill, and the novice must sjiend considerable time before he can acquire the desired degree of perfection. This has I'eference especially to the performer's power of endurance. The same may be said of the singing. The manifestations con- tinue for several weeks, during which time the shaman exercises the most violent activity with scarcely a pause. After the per- formance he must not show any signs of fatigue, because he is supposed to be sustained by the '"spirits", and, moreover, the greater j^art of the exercise is asserted to be the work of the spirits themselves, either after entering the shaman's body or while outside his body. The amount of endurance required for all this, and the ability to pass quickly from the highest excite- ment to a state of normal quietude, can, of course, be acquired only by long practice. Indeed, all the shamans I conversed with said that they had to spend a year, or even two years, before sufficient strength of hand and freedom of voice were given to them by the spirits. Some asserted that, during all this preparatory time, they kept closely to the inner room, taking up the drum several times a day, and beating it as long as their strength would allow.' ^
Of course a certain diet must be adhered to during the time of the training and before each individual ceremonial.
Have the novices any teachers ? One would suppose that they must have, if only to learn the difficult magical tricks, but it is hard to get any detailed information on this point, because the natives ascribe all the cleverness of the shaman to the ' spii'its '.
' There are many liars in our calling ', the shaman Scratching- Woman said to Bogoras.'^ 'One will lift up the skins of the sleeping-room with his right toe and then assure you that it was done by " spirits " ; another will talk into the l)osom of his shirt or through his sleeve, making the voice issue from a quite unusual place.' Of course he himself was ready to swear that he never did such tricks.
• Ibid. - Op. cit., p. 424. ^ Bogoras, TJie Chukchee, li. 426.
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Sometimes the old men teach the young shamans. ' Tlie man who gives a part of his power to another man h)ses corresponchngly , and can hardly recover the loss afterwards. To transfer his power, the older shaman must blow on the eyes or into the mouth of the recipient, or he may stab himself with a knife, with the blade of which, still reeking with his '* source of life " {telke/jun), he will immediately pierce the body of the recipient.'
Bogoras did not hear of any transferring of shamanistic power while he was among the Chukchee. He found it, however, among Eskimo women, who were taught by their husbands, and whose children were taught by their parents. In one family on St. Law- i"ence Island the shamanistic power has been retained tlirough a succession of generations, evidently having been transferred from father to son.^
The Gili/ak. Sternberg ^ says that although shamans do not play so important a role among the Gilyak as among some neighbouring tribes, still their jwwer among this folk is almost unlimited. Sternberg was told by a Gilyak shaman that before he had entered on his vocation he had been very ill for two months, during which time he w^as unconscious, lying quite motionless. Sometimes, he said, he almost regained consciousness, but sank again into a swoon before recovering his senses. ' I should have died ', he explained, ' if I had not become a shaman.' During these months of trial he became ' as dry ', he said, ' as a dry stick.' In the night he heard himself singing shaman's songs. Once there appeared to him a bird-spirit, and, standing at some distance from it, a man, who spoke to him in these words : * Make yourself a drum and all that pertains to a shaman. Beat the drum and sing songs. If you are an ordinary man, nothing will come of it ; but if you are to be a shaman, you will be no ordinary one.' When he came to him- self he found that he was being held by head and feet close to the fire by his friends, who told him that they had thought him already dead, carried off by the evil spirits {kcJcJin). Forthwith he demanded a drum, and began to beat it and sing. He felt half dead, half intoxicated. Then for the first time he saw his spirit-protectors, JceJchn and Jcenchkh. The former told him, ' If you see any one ill, cure him. Do not trust kencJtkh. He has a man's face, but his body is a bird's. Trust us only.'
Sternberg himself was once witness of a first manifestation of shamanistic power.
^ Op. cit., p. 420. » Sternberg, Ttie Gilyak, p. 72.
182 EELIGION
KoYnit was a little guest of Sternberg's, a boy of twelve. In spite of bis youth be bad two souls, being tbe son of a great sbanian, Cbamkb, who bad as many as four souls (one from tbe mountains, another from tbe sea, a third from the sky, and a fourth from the underworld). Once on being suddenly awakened from sleep, KoTnit began to throw himself about, and to shout aloud in different pitches or intonations of the voice, as shamans are accustomed to do. When this was over, the boy's face looked worn and tired, like that of an old man. He said afterwards that, during the sleep which bad preceded his outbreak, two Icckhns had appeared to him. He knew them for his father's lieMns ; and they said to him : * We used to play with your father — let us play with you also.'^
II. Neo-Siberians.
Passing from the Pnlaeo- to tbe Neo-Siberians, we notice that the shaman's protectors among the latter are highly developed beings.
Three kinds of ' spirits ' are associated with a Yakut shaman, namely, cimag/jat, yeh/ua, and halianij (Sieroszewski). Amtigyat is the indispensable attribute of every shaman.
But iimagt/at is also the name of the iron breast-circle, the sign of the shaman's dignity.
Even the weakest shamans possess amiigyat - and yckyua — the latter is 'sent from above, animal picture, bewitching spirit, devilish devourer ' [YcJcyita ohm ahassyuaJi, sinuih ahassyuah, iissiif- tan ongorudh).
The yehjiia is carefully bidden from the people. *My yckyua will not be found by any one ; it lies hidden far away, there, in the rocky mountains of Edjigan.'-^
Once a year, when the snow melts and the earth is black, the yckyua arise from their hiding-places and begin to wander. They hold orgies of fights and noises, and the shamans with whom they are associated feel very ill. Especially harmful are the yckyua of female shamans.
^ Op. cit., pp. 73-4.
* Sieroszewski, in speaking about the division of the shamans into three kinds, says that the last or third kind are not real shamans, as they have not (iniagi/ot, but are sorcerers and other people in some way peculiar (12 Lat ic Kraju Yakiifoir, p. 628).
^ Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 626.
THE SHAMAN 183
The weakest and most cowardly are tlie nelcijua of dogs ; the most powerful are those of enormous bulls, stallions, elks, and black bears. ' Those shamans who have as their animal incarna- tion a wolf, bear, or dog, are the most unfortunate ; these animals are insatiable ; they are never satisfied, however much the shaman may provide for them." The dog especially gives no peace to his two-footed ft How ; he ' gnaws with his teeth the shaman's heart, tears into pieces his body '. ^ Then the shaman feels sick and suffers pain. The crow is also a bad f/eb/ua ; the eagle and hairy bull are called 'devilish fighters and warriors' [ahassy keiktah). This title is the most flattering one for a shaman.- When a new shaman appears, the other shamans recognize him at once by the presence of a new yekyua, whom they have not seen before. Only wizards can see i/cki/ua ; to ordinary people they are invisible.
Troshchanski ' says of the //eki/ua : * Among the protectors of the shaman, the most important role is played by the yekymi (literally, " mother-animal "). It is said that the shamans incar- nate their kut ^ in certain animals, e. g. in stallions, wolves, dogs, and that these animals are thus the yekijiia of shamans.
' If one of these animals kills another of its species, then the corresponding shaman will die.' Troshchanski thinks that the shaman incarnates his kut only during the time that he is actually shamanizing.
Whereas this • black ' animal-protector seems to be of a totemic and personal nature, to a certain extent ' of one blood and flesh ' with his protege, on the other hand Cimayyat strikes us as being a more impersonal power.
Sieroszewski '' explains that it is in most cases ' the spirit of a deceased shaman ', or, in some rare cases, one of the secondary heavenly beings. But it seems that the term ' spirit ' is used here quite vaguely; e.g., we read further on: 'The human body cannot contain the power of great gods, and so the spirit-protector remains always near the beloved man (outside of him) and willingly comes at his call ; in difficult moments it helps him, defends him, and gives him advice.' *^ ' The shaman sees and heai-s only through his cimayyat ', says the shaman Tiuspiut.
Amiiyyat comes to a shaman through an accident, or as a
' Ibid. = Ibid.
^ Troshchanski, The Evolution of the Black Faith, p. 138. * The part of the soul which, according to the Yakut, is common to animals and men.
^ Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 626. ^ Ibid.
184 KELIGION
heavenly destiny. 'When I was travelling in the north,' says Tius2)iut, ' I came upon a heap of wood {m'iba) in the mountains, and as I just wanted to cook some dinner, I set this on fire. Now under this heap was buried a well-known Tungus shaman (Tius- piut was a Yakut), and so his iimagijat leapt into me.'^ If the great shamans at death take their umCujiiat to heaven, they are transformed into heavenly beings ; but if the amugijat is not removed to heaven, then it will appear on the earth sooner or later. -
Besides the two so-called spirits mentioned above, there comes to the Yakut shaman, during shamanistic performances, still another kind of spirit, a rather mischievous one, which forces the shaman to talk and to imitate various, often indecent, gestures. These spirits are called Jialkiny, and their representa- tives may be a Kussian devil, a devil's daughter with a devilish groom, who, being blind, is in the habit of groping about in the dark, &c.
Thus Sieroszewski, on the mental training of the novice. Further light is thrown on the question by Troshchanski.^ Following out his main idea of treating black and white sliamans separately, he says: 'Not every one can become a shaman, either white or black ; only a person whose silr has obtained a suitable education.
' The silr of a white shaman is educated under the care of one of the a'ty, and the siir of a black shaman studies with an ahassi/. How the Stir of a white shaman is educated among the Yakut is not known to us. The silr of a black shaman lives with his tutor on the ninth floor (underground — in their ideal division of the universe). If the silr is educated on the ninth floor, then a most powerful shaman will arise from it ; if on the eighth floor, then the shaman will be of medium power ; if on the third floor, then the shaman will be only a sorcerer.'
The education consists in the silr's learning ' the habits, character, and behaviour of ahassijlar and shamans.'
As to the education of a shaman himself, and his initiation, the Yakut shaman is taught by an older shaman, who consecrates him by ' placing on him the iimiigijid '."* This sign is taken away by the shaman from a person who does not wish to be a shaman any longer. There is in the Yakut language a word nsiii, which
^ Op. cit.. J). 627. - ibid. ^ Troshchauski, op. cit., p. 146.
* Trosbchaiiski, op, cit., p. 147.
THE SHAMAN 185
means to teacli the art of shamaniziiig and to consecrate a shaman.
Pripuzoff^ describes the consecration of a shaman among the Yakut as follows : ' The old shaman leads his pupil up a high mountain or into a clearing in the forest. Here he dresses him in a sliaman's garment, gives him a rattle, and places on one side of him nine chaste youths, and on the other nine chaste maidens. Then the shaman puts on his own garment, and directs the youth to repeat after him certain words.' He demands of the novice that he shall give up all that is most dear to him in the world, and consecrate his life to the service of the spirits who shall come at his call. He tells his pupil where certain ' black ' spirits dwell, what diseases they cause, and how they may be propitiated. Finally the young shaman must kill a sacrificial animal, and sprinkle himself with its blood. The flesh is eaten by those who have been present at the ceremony.
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' Besides this, every adult Chukchee will occasionally take his drum, especially in the winter, and beat it for a while in the warm shelter of the sleeping-room, with the light or without it, singing his melodies to the rhythm of the beats.' ^
We see from the above that one member of the family has the duty of beating the drum during certain ceremonials, and amuses himself sometimes by shamanizing, just as he amuses himself by beating the drum at any time, apart from ceremonials. Of course, we cannot call this member of the family a shaman, but a master of the ceremonies, &c., who imitates the shaman ; we can call shamans only those individuals having special skill and vocation, whether or not they are shamans by heredity.
However, the same Koryak, Asiatic Eskimo, Chukchee, Yuka- ghir, &c. — practically all the Palaeo- Siberians — possess the pro- fessional shaman, sometimes in decadence,^ but still there is no
^ Sieroszewski, 12 Laf w Krajii Yakiitoio, 1902, p. 630.
- He must also have good mannere, as we see from the following : 'The shaman Yetilin had an incessant nervous twitching in his face, [and] the Chukchee said hiughingly, that he was probably "with an owl kele'' (spirit), comparing his afHietion to the jerking motion of the owl's head when it devours its prey.' (Bogoras, The Chukchee, p. 428.)
^ Bogoras, op. cit., p. 413. * Ibid.
° During the stay of Jochelson among the Koryak (1900-1) he had the opportunity of seeing only two shamans. Both were young men, and neither enjoyed special respect on the part of his relations. (Jochelson, llie Koryak, p. 49.)
THE SHAMAN 171
doubt of liis existence. Krasheninnikoff,' who travelled through the land of the Kanicliadal in the middle of the eighteenth century, says that 'among the Kamchadal there is only one great annual ceremony, in November, and the chief roles at this ceremony belonged to old men '.
The same author says : ' Among the Kamchadal there are no special shamans, as among other nations, but every old woman and loekchuch (probably women in men's clothes) is a witch, and explains dreams.' -
From this meagre information we can scarcely decide whether among the Kamchadal of the time of Krasheninnikoff there was or not a family shaman, because as the old men played the role not at ceremonials in separate families, but at communal cere- monies, we must rather call them communal shamans. But there was some form of professional shamanism, though not specialized, since every old woman could shamauize. On the other hand, the following quotation shows that there were certain qualifications necessary for the shaman :
' The female sex is nicer '?' and probably cleverer, therefore there are more women and JcoclrJinch among the shamans than there are men.'*
Thus Krasheninnikoff. Jochelson says'*: 'Both Steller and Krasheninnikoff assert that the Kamchadal had no professional shamans, but that every one could exercise that art, especially women and Koekchuch ; that there was no special shaman garb ; that they used no drum, but simply pronounced incantations and practised divination (Krasheninnikoff. iii. p. 114 ; Steller, p. 277), which description appears more like the family shamanism of the present day. It is impossible that the Kamchadal should form an exception among the rest of the Asiatic and American tribes in having had no professional shamans.'
In support of Jochelson's opinion just quoted, it may be said that, in spite of Krasheninnikoff's statement to the contrary, pro- fessional shamanism does seem to have existed, at least in germ, among the Kamchadal, alongside of the communal shamanism
' Krasheninnikoft', Description of the Coxintnj of Kamchatka, ed. 1775, 1). 85.
* Op. cit., p. 81.
^ This epithet is somewhat vague, but for this I am not responsible, as the original has a similar vague expression.
* Krasheninnikoff. p. 15, quot. Troshchanski. '' Jochelson, The Koryak, p. 48.
172 KELIGION
which was in the hands of the old men. This appears clear fi'om Krasheninnikoff's own words quoted above. That those who could shamanize most effectually were women, ' nice and clever ', points to the fact that some sort of standard was already set up for those who aspired to be special practitioners of this extra-communal shamanism, and that women most nearly approached this ideal.
A. The Shaman's Vocation.
Whether his calling be hereditary or not, a shaman must be a capable— na}', an inspired person. Of course, this is practically the same thing as saying that he is nervous and excitable, often to the verge of insanity. So long as he practises his vocation, however, the shaman never passes this verge. It often happens that before entering the calling persons have had serious nervous affections.^ Thus a Chukchee female shaman, Telpina, according to her own statement, had been violently insane for three years, during which time her household had taken precautions that she should do no harm to the peojile or to herself. ^
'I was told that people about to become shamans have fits of wild paroxysms alternating with a condition of complete ex- haustion. They will lie motionless for two or three days without partaking of food or drink. Finally they retire to the wilderness, where they spend their time enduring hunger and cold in order to prepare themselves for their calling.'-^
To be called to become a shaman is generally equivalent to being afflicted with hysteria ; then the accepting of the call means recovery. * There are cases of young persons who, having suffered for j^ears from lingering illness (usually of a nervous character), at last feel a call to take up shamanistic practice and by this means overcome the disease.''*
^ To the believer the acceptance of the call means accepting several spirits, or at least one, as protectors or servants, by which means the shaman enters into communication with the whole spirit world. The shamanistic call sometimes manifests itself through some animal, plant, or other natural object, v/hich the
^ Bogoras met several shamans who were alwa3's ready to quarrel, and to use their knives on such occasions ; e.g. the shaman Kelewgi wanted to kill a Cossack who refused to buy furs from him. (Bogoras, op. cit., p. 426.)
2 Op. cit., p. 428. " Jochelson, The Koryak, p. 47.
* Bogoras, The Chukchee, p. 421.
THE SHAMAN 173
person comes upon at the 'right time", i.e. when very young, often in the critical period between childhood and maturity (or else when a person more advanced in age is afllicted with mental or physical troubles). * Sometimes it is an inner voice, which bids the person enter into intercourse with the "spirits". If the person is dilatory in obeying, the calling spirit soon appears in some outward visible shape, and communicates the call in a more explicit way.' Ainanwat after an illness saw several ' spirits ', but did not pay much attention to them ; then one * spirit ' came, whom Ainanwat liked and invited to stay. But the 'spirit' said he would stay only on the condition that Ainanwat should become a shaman. Ainanwat refused, and the 'spirit' vanished.^
Here is an account by a Yakut-Tungus shaman, Tiuspiut ('fallen-from-the-sky '), of how he became a shaman : -
'When I was twenty j^ears old, I became very ill and began "to see with my eyes, to hear with my ears" that which others did not see or hear ; nine years I struggled with myself, and I did not tell any one what was happening to me, as I was afraid that people would not believe me and would make fun of me. At last I became so seriously ill that I was on the verge of death ; but when I started to shamanize I grew better ; and even now when I do not shamanize for a long time I am liable to be ill.'
Sieroszewski tells us that Tiuspiut Avas sixty years of age ; he hid his shamanistic gift nine years, and had been shamanizing thirty-one years when Sieroszewski met him. He was a man of medium size, thin, but muscular, with signs of former beauty. In spite of his age he could shamanize and dance the whole night. He was an experienced man, and travelled a great deal both in the south and in the north. During the shamanistic ceremonies his eyes had a strange expression of madness, and a pertinacious stare, which provoked to anger and excitement those on whom his look rested.
' This is the second shaman with such strange eyes whom I have met in the district of Yakut. Generally in the features of a shaman there is something peculiar which enabled me, after a short experience, to distinguish them from the other folk present. ' '*
A similar statement is made about the Chukchee shamans by Bogoras : ' The eyes of a shaman have a look different from that
' Bogoras, op. cit.
'^ Sieroszewski, 12 Lat w Kraju Yakutow, p. 396. ^ Ibid.
174 RELIGION
of other people, and they explain it by the assertion that the eyes of the sliaman are very bright {niJceraqen), which, by the way, gives them the ability to see "spirits" even in the dark. It is certainly a fi\ci that the expression of a shaman is peculiar — a combination of cunning and shyness ; and it is often possible to pick him out from among many othei'S.' ^
* The Chukchee are well aware of the extreme nervousness of their shamans, and express it by the word ninirJc'dqin, '' he is bashful ". By this word they mean to convey the idea that the shaman is highly sensitive, even to the slightest change of the psychic atmosphere surrounding him during his exercises.'
' The Chukchee shaman is diffident in acting before strangers, especially shortly after his initiation. A shaman of great power will refuse to show his skill when among strangers, and will yield only after much solicitation : even then, as a rule, he will not show all of his power.' ^ 'Once when I induced a shaman to practise at my house his "spirits" (of a ventriloquistic kind) for a long time refused to come. When at last they did come, they were heard walking round the house outside and knocking on its walls, as if still undecided whether to enter. When they entered, they kept near to the corners, carefully avoiding too close prox- imity to those present.'
The shamanistic call comes sometimes to people more advanced in years :
' To people of more mature age the shamanistic call may come during some great misfortune, dangerous and protracted illness, sudden loss of family or property,' &c. 'It is generally con- sidered that in such cases a favourable issue is possible only with the aid of the "' spirits ", therefore a man who has undergone some extraordinary trial in his life is considered as having within him- self the possibilities of a shaman, and he often feels bound to enter into closer relations with the "spirits", lest he incur their displeasure at his negligence and lack of gratitude.' "'
Katek, from the village of Unisak at Indian Point, entered into relations with the ' spirits ' when he was of mature age, during a teiTible adve'nture he had while hunting seal.
He was carried away on the piece of ice on which he was standing, and only after a long time of drifting came upon an iceberg, on to which he climbed. But before he encountered
^ Bogoras, op. cit., p. 116. - Ibid. " Op. cit., p. 421.
THE SHAMAN 175
the iceberg, he had trit'd to kill himself with his belt-knife, when u large walnis-head suddenly appeared out of the water quite close to him and sang: '0 Katek, do not kill yourself! You shall again see the mountains of Unisak and the little Kuwakak, your elder son.' When Katek came back home he made a sacrifice to the walrus-head, and from that time on he was a shaman, much respected and very famous among his neighbours.^
However, very old people are not supposed to hear the shaman- istic call. In a Koryak tale,- when Quikinnaqu (who had already a grown-up daughter) unexpectedly makes for himself a drum out of a small louse, and becomes a shaman, his neighbours say scepti- cally : • Has the old Quikinnaqu really become a shaman ? From his youth up he had no spirits within his call.'
But young people when they get into trouble also call for the help of ' spirits ' ; when the latter come to them, such youths also frequently become shamans.
'A man, Yetilin by name, who belonged by birth to an Arctic maritime village, but afterwards married into a reindeer-ljreeding family on the Dry Anui River, and joined its camp, told me that in his early childhood his family perished from a contagious disease (probably influenza), and he was left alone with his small si.ster. Then he called to the " spii'its ". They came and brought food and said to him : " Yetilin, take to beating the drum I We will assist you in that also."' ' ^
The Chukchee tales contain accounts of poor and despised orphans, who were protected by 'spirits', and turned into shamans.
The vocation of the shaman is attended- with considerable danger : ' The slightest lack of harmony between the acts of the shamans and the mj'sterious call of their " spirits " brings their life to an end. This is expressed by the Chukchee, when they say that "spirits" are very bad-tempered, and punish with immediate death the slightest disobedience of the shaman, and that this is particularly so when the .shaman is slow to carry out those orders which are intended to single him out from other people.' *
We have similar statements from the more advanced tribes. • The duties undertaken by the shaman are not easy ; the struggle which he has to carry on is dangerous. There exist traditions
' Op. cit., p. 421. 2 .Jochelson, T/o- Konjak, p. 291.
^ Bogora.s, op. cit., p. 424. ^ Op. cit., p. 417.
176 KELIGION
about shamans who were carried away still living from the earth to the sky, about others killed by "? spirits ", or struck down at their first meeting with the powers whom they dared to call upon. The wizard Avho decides to carry on this struggle has not only material gain in view, but also the alleviation of the griefs of his fellow men ; the wizard who has the vocation, the faith, and the conviction, who undertakes his duty with ecstasy and negligence of personal danger, inspired by the high ideal of sacrifice, such a wizard always exerts an enormous influence upon his audience. After liaving once or twice seen such a real shaman, I understood the distinction that the natives draw between the "' Great ", "Middling", and "Mocking" or deceitful shamans.'^ Although exposed to danger from supernatural powers, the shaman is supposed to be safer from human anger than any other person.
One Chukchee tale says : ' She [the murderer] came to her neighbour, a woman who was busy with her fireVtoard, trying to make a fire. She stab1)ed her from behind. But the girl con- tinued to work on the fire, because she was a shaman-girl, a woman able to stal) herself [ in a shamanistic performance]. Therefore she could not kill her, but only severed the tendons of her arms and legs.' ^
A man who can pierce himself through with a knife, so that its end shows at his back,^ or cut his head off, put it on a stick, and dance round the yurta,"* is surely strengthened sufiiciently against an enemy's attacks. Yet the shaman, Scratching-Woman, when he refused to drink the alcohol offered to him by Bogoras, and which he had previously demanded, explained as follows : ' I will 1)0 frank with you. Drink really makes my temper too bad for anything. Usually my wife watches over me, and puts all knives out of my reach. But wdien we are apart, I am afraid.' '^
On the whole, the shamans are very much attached to their vocation, in spite of the persecutions which they have to suffer from the Government. Tiuspiut was many times punished by the Eussian officials and his shamanistic dress and drum were burned; but he returned to his duties after each of these incidents. 'We have to do it, we cannot leave off shamanizing,' he said to Sieroszewski, 'and there is no harm in our doing it.'
Another shaman, who was old and blind, affirmed that he had
^ Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 639. - Bogoras, Chukchee Materials, p, 32. ^ Sieroszewski, op. oil., p. 398. * Ibid.
^ Bogoras, TJie Chukchee, p. 428,
THE SHAMAN 177
l)een a shaman some time before, but after he l)ecame convinced that it was a sin lie stoi>ped shamanizing, and 'although another very powerful shaman took from him the " sign ", amaijijat, still the spirits made him l)lind '}
In the village Baigantai Sieroszewski met with another instance of a shaman who, however many times he vowed to abstain from shamanism, still returned to it when the occasion arose. He was a rich man, who did not care for gain, and he was so wonderful that 'his eyes used to jump out on his forehead ' during shaman- istic performances.
Tiuspiut was poor and cared for monej'^, 1)ut he was proudly regardful of his reputation, and when some of his neighbours called in another shaman, one who lived farther away than Tiuspiut, he became quite offended.
Bogoras never met shamans among the Palaeo-Silierians who could be said " to live solely on the profits of their art. It was only a source of additional income to them.' ^
Among the Tungus and Yakut the shaman is recompensed only when his arts are successful ; and now, since Kussian money has come into use, he receives from one to twenty-five roubles for a performance, and always gets plenty to eat besides.
The shamanislic call among the Tungus of Trans-Baikalia shows itself in the following manner : A dead shaman appears in a dream and summons the dreamer to become his successor. One who is to become a shaman appears shy, distrait, and is in a highly nervous condition."
Similar instances are to be found in the records of all Siberian tribes.
As to the shamanistic office being hereditary, this is the case wherever a descendant of a shaman shows a disposition for the calling.
Among the Ostyak, the father himself chooses his successor, not necessarily according to age, but according to capacity ; and to the chosen one he gives his own knowledge. If he has no children, he may i)ass on the office to a friend, or to an adopted child. +
The Ostyak shaman occasionally sells his familiar spirit to another shaman. After receiving payment, he divides his hair
' Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 394. ^ Bogoras, The Chukchce, p. 425.
' Anonymous article in Siberian Xeivs, 1822, pp. .39-40. * Bielayewski, A Journey to the Glacial Sea, pp. 113-14.
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162 SOCIOLOGY
was laid on the gvound and covered with boughs of trees.^ The corpse is elnhoraf ely dressed, a cap placed on the head, and in a liouch different kinds of foud.^ It receives a cup and a spoon, says Potanin, but there is no feasting after the death.^ Yadrintzeff mentions that among the Altaians during the seven days following the death the relatives pray to Tin Shaitan. The father and mother of a dead child may not enter any one's i/urfa till after the expiration of forty days.'^ Among the Uriankhai the corpse of a shaman is exposed on a raised platform and his drum and coat are hung above its head. The corpse of an ordinary person is placed in a hollow tree-trunk. Near its head is placed a pole, the top of which is carved in the form of a cup. A rich man's corpse wears a fine new coat, liut a piece of an old coat is attached to the new one. A fire is made near the place, and portions of flesh, meal, and oil are burned. The relatives for the next seven days must not carry anything out of the i/urta either to sell or to give away, but they may dispense hospitality within ; this custom is called shirWxJi, and we find the same restriction as to carrying things out of the house during a certain period among the Mongols, who term the custom Iccrcldey udur sertcy, but it is not asso- ciated with burial.'''*'
If the death occurred l)y lightning, then the Uriankhai prepare a scr, i. e., a raised platform, for the corpse. The flesh of an animal struck by lightning is never eaten.
XIII. Samoyedic and Finnic Tribes.
Among the Samoyed, according to Castren, there is no belief in a future life for the ordinary man. The dead, with whom many of his belongings are buried, is supposed to exist still for a short while, and during that time food is brought to the grave and the
' Potanin, op. cit., 1882, vol. ii, p. 36. ^ wierbicki, op. cit., p. 86.
3 Potanin, vol. iv, 1883, p. 36.
* Yadrintzeff, The Siberian Aborigines, 1891, pp. 110-20.
'^ Potanin, vol. iv, 1883, p. 36.
''' Among the Buryat of Alarsk this custom is observed after the sacrifice to the fire and is called l-Jiurir or serote// ; among the Darkhat and the Diurbiut, during the period reserved for cattle-breeding. Among the Diurbiut this i>rohibition holds good on the day of death and on any day the number of which contains the number of the day of death ; e.g., if the death occurs on the 3rd, the prohibition holds on the 13th, 23rd, &c.
Similar numerical arrangements in connexion with the custom of not carrying things out of the house are found to hold good on other occa- sions, such as sacrificing a horse to a god. (Potanin, vol. iv. ed. 1883, p. 37.)
I
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 163
sacrifice of the reindeer is repeated several times, but when the body has once turned to dust there is nothing beyond. Only the tadibeif (shaman) attains to the privilege of a future life.^
Death is usually ascribed to the power of a bad female spirit, Kmnsi/a Buni&si, who steals the soul, but a good shaman can some- times recover the soul and return it to its owner.^ In former times the Samoj-ed used a special incantation to prevent the return of the dead, and when the body was taken away from the chum (dwelling-house) the women of the clium jumped over the body.^
Krohn. who is a great authoritj- on the subject, believes that among the Finnic tribes the cult of the dead and ancestor-worship is common to them all, and is their oldest form of religion, 'Their places of sacrifice frequently stand in close proximity to their places of burial ; their images are chiefly representations of the dead, their ofierings are to be explained by the needs (food, clothes, <S:c.) of the dead : and their whole system of magic seems to aim at a union with the spirits of the dead,' ^
Among the Vogul, at the moment of death the relatives place in the mouth of the dying a sniaTl stick to prevent the closing of the teeth, and immediately afterwards the head of the corpse is covered. The body is then attired in its best clothes and is laid again in the sleeping-place. All this is performed in silence. Then the women loosen their hair and begin to bewail the dead and extol his virtues, his great power as a hunter, his goodness in the family ; sometimes the men assist them, but they are usually busily engaged in making the coffin and preparing the grave. The body is placed in the coffin l)y members of its own sex. Sometimes they draw with charcoal on the lid of the coffin the form of a bird or a fish. Then the eldest w^oman of the family slightly raises the coffin. If it is heavy, she promises to sacrifice to the spii-its. Then each member of the family, first the women and then the men, in each case beginning with the youngest member, slightly raises the coffin. After this the coffin is carried or driven to the grave. ^ Usually the body is buried on the day of death, and it is carried out through a window of the house, or if it is a chum, through a specially-made hole. The graveyard, among
' Castren, Reiseerinneninqen aits den Jahren 1838-77, p. 267, 2 Tretyakoff, Tlie Country of Turiikhansl; p. 204. ' Lepekhin, Diary of a Journey, i>art iv, p. 117, * Krohn, ' Cult of the Dead,' E. li. E., vol. i, p. 467, ^ N. L, Gondatti, Traces of Payanism among the Ahoriaines of N.W. Siberia, 1888, p. 44.
M 2
164 SOCIOLOGY
the Vogul and their nearest neighbours, the Ostyak, is usually in a forest; the body is either carried or drawn by reindeer, Avhich animals must later be killed on the grave in the following manner. A loop of rope is placed round the neck and the other end of it tied to a tree. The animal is then beaten with sticks, and in attempting to escape it chokes itself with the rope. Then only is a wooden spear driven into its heart ; the flesh is eaten at the grave, the bones placed with the corpse, and the skin buried close at hand.^ Among the Vogul and the Ostyak of the Upper Obi, the graves are no deeper than three or four feet and the sides are lined with wooden planks or branches of trees, the body is placed in the grave, either in a small boat with flattened ends and covered with bi'anches, or, if no boat is available, in a coffin made somewhat in the form of a boat. Above the grave a small roof is erected slightly sloping, with its sides about a foot from the ground and formed of interlaced branches of the birch-tree. Three or four feet above this another similar roof is erected. The small belongings of the dead man are placed in the grave, and the larger, such as the oars and ])oat and skis, outside it. It is interesting to note that if a Vogul man dies away from his home while on a fishing or similar expedition, exactly the same ceremonies are performed for him in his village. After the corpse has been buried the relatives hold a feast, some of the food is placed on both sides of the grave, and then a cooking-vessel with a pierced bottom is placed inside the grave.
Among the Samoyed and the Ostyak of the Lower Obi, similar funeral ceremonies are performed, but the grave is not dug. They place the body on the ground, and cover it with the inverted skis ; among the same people there exists the custom that the wife of the dead man makes a figure which represents her husband, from portions of the boat, skis, branches, &c. This figure, which is dressed and adorned like the deceased, and whose features even are sometimes made by a careful widow to resemble him, is treated as the husband for six months after the death ; it is placed in the most important seat, is fed by and sleeps beside the wife. No widow is expected to marry during this period of mourning. The external signs of mourning of some of the natives of north-west Siberia consist in loosened hair among the men for five days and the women for four days, or in wearing the hair in plaits in front of
^ N. L. Gondatti, Traces of Paganism amonq the Ahorigines of N.W. Siberia, 1888, p. 44.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 1G5
the face, the men for five months and the women for four months. The men sometimes also wear a conl round the neck with hanging ornaments.^ The soul {lili khcl mkholas) of the deceased passes into the body of a newly-born child of the same stock, or, at least, of the same clan or nation. As to the shadow [is), it must climb high mountains and cross streams of fire. To assist it in this, one must burn the portions of hair and nails which were cut and preserved during his lifetime, together with a few feathers of spring birds. The implements placed in the grave, and the food which is taken thither from time to time, are also destined to assist it on this terrible journey. Sometimes the shadow of the deceased takes with him the shadows of some relatives who will therefore die soon. The land of future life is situated under the ground in the Arctic Ocean beyond the mouth of the Obi, where it is ruled by the underground god Kul-Odyr. Here the shadow lives as long as the man lived on the earth, and follows similar occupations : if the man were a fisherman, hisxshadow is the same in the shadow- land. Towards the close of its life the shadow Ijegins to diminish in size and becomes as small as a black-beetle {Jcer-khomlaJch). According to some natives, it does become a black-beetle, and finally disappears. People who have lived evil lives have to work continually in the other land, and their work will not be successful.'^
Kul-Odyr has to take away the shadows of people according to the command of the heavenly god Numi-Torum, and drives them with a big stick through the tundra to his land ; if by mistake he takes a shadow too soon, then at Numi's request he gives it back : thus is explained a fainting fit.^
' Op. cit., pp. 42-4. 2 Op. cit., pp. 39-40. =" Op. cit., p. 41.
PART III. RELIGION
CHAPTER VII SHAMANISM ^
Shamanism is understood by some people to be a primitive form of religion or religio-magic practised by the aborigines of northern Asia as "well as by all other aborigines in other parts of the world. This opinion is held by Mikhailowski, Kharuzin, and some other Russian scientists. Others hold that Shamanism was only one form of expression of the religious cult of northern Asia, practised in order to avert the evil spirits. This opinion is found in the writings of Jochelson and Bogoras. There is still another view put forward, which it is well for us to consider. This view we find expressed very clearly in the following extract from Klementz :
' One must not lose sight of the fact that in the various beliefs of the Siberian tribes a very close connexion is noticeable, and, likewise, there can be observed an uninterrupted identity in the foundations of their mythology, and in their rites, even extending as far as the nomenclature — all of which gives one the right to suppose that these beliefs are the result of the joint work of the intellectual activity of the whole north of Asia.'-
In the writings of the Buryat scientist Banzaroff we find a very similar statement : ' The old national religion of the Mongols and the neighbouring nations is known in Europe as ''Shamanism", whereas among those who are not its followers it has no special name.
'After the introduction of Buddhism among the Mongolic nations, they called their old religion "The Black Faith" {Ehara Shadjin), in contradistinction to Buddhism, which they called "Yellow Faith "' {Shim Shadjin). According to Father Jakiuv, the Chinese call Shamanism Tao-Shen (gambolling before the spirits).
' For certain suggestions as to the construction of this chapter I am indebted to my friend, Miss Byrne, of Somerville College. 2 Em: liil. ami Eth., 'The Burials,' p. 26.
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SHAMANISM 167
These names, however, do not give any idea of the true character of Shamanism. Some are of opinion tliat it originated along- side with Biahminism and Buddhism, while others find in it some elements in common with the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tze. . . . Finally some hold that Shamanism is nothing but Nature-worship, likening it to the faith of the followers of Zoroaster. Careful study of the subject shows that the Shamanistic religion . . . did not arise out of Buddhism or any other religion, but originated among the Mongolic nations, and consists not only in superstitious and shamanistic ceremonies . . ., but in a certain primitive way of observing the outer world — Nature — and the inner world — the soul.'^
Of course, Banzarofif speaks especially of the Shamanism of the Mongols. We cannot agree with him that Shamanism is limited to these people. We find it all over northern and part of central Asia.
As we see them now the Palaeo-Siberians may be considered as possessing the simplest, and the Neo-Siberians the most complex, form of Shamanism. Thus among the former we see more ' Family' than 'Professional' Shamanism ; that is, the ceremonials, beliefs, and shamans are practically limited to the family. Pro- fessional Shamanism, that is, ceremonies of a communal kind performed by a specialized or professional shaman, is here only in its infancy, and, being weaker, has been more affected by Christianity.
Among the Neo-Siberians, where professional Shamanism is strongly developed (for example, the Yakut), family Shamanism has been more affected by European influences. We cannot, however, argue from this that the Palaeo-Siberian form is the more primitive. Professional Shamanism may be a development of family Shamanism, or it may be a degenerate form, w^here environment is such that communal life is no longer possible.
That the dissimilarity between the Shamanism of the Palaeo- and Neo-Siberians is no doubt due to the differences in the geographical conditions of northern and southern Siberia seems to be proved by the result of a careful study of certain Neo- Siberian tribes (Yakut) who migrated to the north, and of certain Palaeo-Siberians (Gilyak) who migrated to the south. The ease with which they absorbed the customs and beliefs appertaining to
^ Banzaroff, Tlie Black Faith, pp. 4-5.
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their new surrountlings shows that there was no fundamental diffei'ence between their shamanistic practices. The differences, being due to environment, disappear in migration. It cannot be said that the change is due to contact, since this, in many cases, is very slight. Indeed, Shamanism seems to be such a natural product of the Continental climate with its extremes of cold and heat, of the violent hurgas and hurans,^ of the hunger and fear which attend the long winters, that not only the Palaeo-Siberians and the more highly cultivated Neo-Siberians, but even Europeans, have sometimes fallen under the influence of certain shamanistic superstitions. Such is the case with the Russian peasants and officials who settle in Siberia, and with the Russian Creoles. -
According to the official census, only a small part of the abori- gines are ' true Shanianists', but, as a matter of fact, we see that though they are registered as Orthodox Catholics and Buddhists, they are in reality nearly all faithful to the practice of their old religion.
In psychological terminology, Shamanism consists of animistic and preanimistic conceptions ; although most of the people at present engaged in research work on Siberia have been so much influenced by the Tylor theory of Animism that they misuse the word ' soul ', and the phenomena that they describe as animistic are very often in a different category altogether.
The reader must decide for himself whether Shamanism appeals to him as a cult peculiar to this region, or Avhether it is part of a very general primitive magico-religion. It appears to the author personally to be as difficult to speak in general terms of primitive religions as it would be to speak of Christian religions. This might be the task of a separate work — to determine whether Shamanism in its conception of the deities, nature, man, and in its rites, forms a special ' sect ' in the Animistic Religion.
* See chapter on Geography. ^ See Bogoras, The Chufichee, -p. 417.
CHAPTER VIII
THE SHAMAN
As among all primitive religions, the role of the priest, as the repository of religious beliefs and traditions, is of the greatest importance ; therefore we shall first proceed to the study of the shaman himself.
The organization of the shamanhood varies slightly in different tribes. In some cases this office is hereditary, but everywhere the supernatural gift is a necessary qualification for becoming a shaman. As we should expect from the generally higher culture of the Neo-Siberians, their shamanhood is more highly organized than that of the Palaeo-Siberians. The family shamans pre- dominate among the Palaeo-Siberians, and the professional shamans among the Neo-Siberians, though Bogoras says : ' In modern times the importance of family shamanism is losing ground among all the tribes named, with the exception of the Chukchee, and there is a tendency to its being replaced on all occasions by individual shamanism.' These individual or professional shamans are called among the Chukchee ' those with spirit ' [cneniVd], from enen, * shamanistic spirit '.^
Although hysteria (called by some writers ' Arctic hysteria ') lies at the bottom of the shaman's vocation, yet at the same time the shaman differs from an ordinary patient suffering from this illness in possessing an extremely great power of mastering himself in the periods between the actual fits, which occur during the ceremonies. ' A good shaman ought to possess many unusual qualities,^ but the chief is the power, acquired by tact and know-
^ Bogoras, op. cit., p. 414.
* In the district of Kolyma, Sieroszewski used to meet a young but very skilful shaman, who could do most of the difficult shiimanist tricks : he swallowed a stick, ate red-hot coals and j)ieces of glass, spat coins out of his mouth, was able to be in different places at the same time— and in spite of all this he was not considered a first-class shaman ; whereas an inspired old woman-shaman, who could not perform all these tricks, was held in great esteem and fame. (Op. cit., p. 631.)
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ledge, to influence the people round him.' ^ His reserved attitude has undoubtedly a great influence on the people among whom he lives. He must know how and when to have his fit of inspiration, which sometimes rises to frenzy, and also how to preserve his high * tabooed ' attitude in his daily life.^
^ In speaking of the shaman's vocation, we do not include the family shaman of the Koryak. Asiatic Eskimo, Chukchee, and Yukaghir, whose position and capacity are rather vague, as we see from the following description of his duties : ' Each family has one or more drums of its own, on which its members are bound to perform at specific periods : that is, to accompany the beating of the drum with the singing of various melodies. Almost always on these occasions one member at least of the family tries to communicate with " spirits "' after the manner of shamans.'^ Some- times he even tries to foretell the future, but he receives no attention from his audience. This is done in the outer room and in daylight, whereas the 'shaman's', or professional shaman's, actions are performed in the inner room and at night.
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When the Eskimo anticipate the death of one of their fellows, they build a small snow^-hut or erect a tent, according to the time of the year, and place the sick man therein. He is carried in through an entrance specially made at the back, all signs of which are afterwards removed. Food and drink are placed in the dwelling, but no one remains there to attend to liim. although his relatives visit him from time to time. At the approach of death, however, they retire, carefully closing the entrance and leaving him to die alone.- The Eskimo of Greenland obtain their chief supplies of food fifom the sea, and they imagine that the place of the depai'ted is below the floor of the sea, and that communication between it and the earth is by way of the caves in the rocks. It is the country where Torngarsuk and his mother live, and where it is always summer and always day. Fresh w^ater to drink, abundance of fish, birds, seals, and herds of reindeer, which are easily caught, as well as stocks of food ready for eating kept in
' Ibid.
^ Boas, quoted by Mikhailowski, Shamanism, 1892, p. 17.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 155
huge cauldrons, make life very comfortable. It is very difficult for the soul of the departed to find his way to this country. It must wander for five days on very hard rocky roads sloping downwards and often covered with blood, and in the winter the way is especially trying owing to violent storms. In some cases the soul here dies the 'second death '.^ In connexion with the future life, Kink says that the Greenland Eskimo believe in two abodes of the dead, one in the sky and one below the earth ; of the two, the latter is pre- ferred, because the former is cold and deficient in food. Here the inhabitants occupy themselves by playing ball with the head of a walrus, and this game causes the Aurora Borealis,^ The American Central Eskimo, on the other hand, imagine that the warm plenteous land, called Kudlivum or Adlivum, where there is no ice and snow, is in the sky, and that the cold, dark land, called Adilparmiut, is below the earth."'
NEO-SIBERIANS.
IX. The Tungus. Among the Tungus, according to Shashkoff,^ the corpse is sewn up in a reindeer's skin, and hung upon a tree together with the dead man's armour and a co()king-vessel, the bottom of which is pierced. Patkanofif ^ also mentions the sewing of the corpse into a reindeer's skin, but states that it is then placed in a wooden coffin, together with many other things which belonged to the dead man, except his ai-mour and a cooking-vessel, which are hung on a neighbouring tree ; the coffin is then placed on high posts in the forest. During the funeral ceremony, a reindeer and a dog are killed ; the flesh of the former is eaten, and its bones, together with the dog, are tied to a post or a tree near by. The widow preserves silence during the ceremony, but at the conclusion she throws her arms round the tree and weeps. These ancient funeral ceremonies are celebrated for people who die in the tayga, and, indeed, most deaths occur there. The pastoral people of the Baikal province bury their dead in the ground.'' Mordvinoff" states that, as they return from the funeral ceremony, the relatives
' Cranz, vol. i, p. 258, quoted by Mikhailowski, p. 18. 2 Boas, p. 113. " Boas, pp. 588-90.
* Shashkoff, Shamanism in Siberia, 1864, p. 58.
* Faikanoff, Essay on the Geoyraphxj and Statistics of the Tungusic Tribes in Siberia, 1906, vol. i, part ii, p. 282.
* Ibid.
156 SOCIOLOGY
try to obliterate the tracks they have made in the snow, or else cut down trees so that .they fall across the way, in order to prevent the return of the dead.^ Maak gives the following description of a Tungusic grave in the western part of the Viluy district : The corpse lay with its head towards the north-east, the coffin was made of four planks of wood and placed on two tree-trunks about eight feet high ; on the right side of the corpse lay the palma (a long knife with a wooden handle), and a very elaborate sheath containing six arrows, on the left-hand side, a bow ; beside the knees was a small wooden box containing some arrows of copper or of mammoth-bone, beside the feet there lay a copper cooking- pan with a pierced bottom in which had been placed the stomach of a reindeer filled with the flesh of that animal — the bottom must be accurately pierced, though Maak could not discover the signifi- cance of this. A few paces from this grave, stumps were fixed in the ground, and on them the skin of the sacrificed reindeer was exposed.^
The Olchi Tribe, who are akin to the Tungus, believe that all the dead, irrespective of the manner of dying, go to the country of Biin, which is not, like the Gilyak Mly-vo, situated in the centre of the earth ; but its exact location Schrenck could not discover.^ This future life is arranged in much the same way as the present. They have summer during our winter and vice versa: certain prominent shamans can reach this country alive. The Olchi as well as the Orochi, who are akin to them, expose their dead in a little shed somewhat larger than the Gilyak raff; the corpse is put in a coflSn which is placed on a platform in this shed, and the face must be turned to the sea or a river. The Tungus, says Schrenck, never burn their dead.^
X. The Buryat. Among the Buryat, the corpse of a shaman is either burned, and the remains placed in the trunk of a birch-tree called hogi-narhan, ' the birch of a shaman ' (and any one who cuts down such a tree dies immediately), or the body is exposed on an aranga (platform). A grove of shaman-birches is taboo or dkha.^ Klementz thus
^ Mordvinoff, The Natives of the Tunil-hansk Country, 1860, partii,p. 36.
* Maak, The Viluyslc District of the Yakutsk Territory, part iii, p. 104. ' Schrenck, op. cit., vol. iii, pp. 131-2.
* Op. cit., vol. iii, pp. 144-5.
^ Agapitoff and Khangaloff, Materials for the Study of Shamanism in Siberia, 1883 p. 153.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 157
describes the burial of a shaman. A dead shaman's body is kept in the ijurta for three days, dressed in a new costume, over which his onjoii is put. The j'oung people, his nine ' sons ', compose and sing hymns to his memory, and fumigate his body with sacred herbs. Thereupon the body is put on the back of the horse named by the deceased, one of those present sitting with the body and supporting it on the horse's back. When the horse has been led three times round the yurta, the dead body is taken into a wood, to the cemetery for shamans. His relatives and clients accompany the dead man, making libations, and at a place half-way to the cemetery they set a table with eatables. On arrival at the cemetery the dead body is placed upon a felt mat, and the ninth arrow is discharged in the direction of the house, the remaining eight, with quiver and bow, having been placed with the body to enable the de- ceased to defend good people from evil spirits. All the other marks of the shaman's calling are either broken or burnt. A pyre is then erected, they set the body on fire, kill the horse, and return home.
On the third day they return to collect the shaman's bones, put them into a sack, and, having made a hole in a thick pine, put the sack into it, cover the hole, and plaster it over. Sometimes the shamans' bodies are not burnt, but placed upon a scaffolding erected for the purpose in a wood. ' The custom of burning, now restricted to dead shamans, was formerly general. A dead man was attired in his finest raiment and given a knife, bow and arrows, and a supply of food. A fire was arranged in the form of a square, and the corpse and these objects were placed on it, the head resting on the dead man's saddle. Sometimes his horse was burned with him. After the fire was kindled the i-elatives returned home, and only on the third day did they go back to collect the remains, which they placed in a rough vessel made of birch bark, and then buried the whole. ^'^
At the present time the Buryat do not burn their dead, owing to the prohibition of the practice by the Eussian Government. The corpse is washed, dressed in its best clothes, and provided with money, a pipe, and tobacco. Sometimes it is placed in a
1 Klementz, 'The Buiiats', E. R.E., p. 17.
^ Agapitoft' and Khangaloff, op. cit., p. 157.
^ Agapitoff and Khangaloff say that the clay urns now found in some graves in places where the Buryat now live, belong not to them but to some other people of higher culture who inhabited the district before them, and were acquainted with the art of making pottery, which is not known to the modern Buryat. (Op. cit., p. 158.)
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coffin, but often it is laid in the grave with only a saddle-cloth under the head ; sometimes the cloth, saddle, and a slaughtered horse are burned near the grave. If the horse is not slaughtered, it is set free, and should it return home it is driven away, because they fear it. Such a horse is called kliolgo} Gmelin^ says that the horse is consecrated by the shaman during its owner's life and is never ridden. A broken cart [arlm) belonging to the dead man is placed on the grave with other broken or burned objects, such as weapons and tools. These heaps are visible at a distance, for a Buryat cemeteiy is usually on the slope of a hill at the summit of which is a shaman's birch-grove. For three days after the death they do no work, and remain at home ; these mourning-days are termed Ihaura-horo. During this time the soul of the deceased wanders round his former habitation. On the third day the relatives hold a feast for their friends.^
The Burj'at fancy that the soul is quite a different being from the body, and that sleej) and illness are periods of temporary separation of the two, and death a permanent separation. The soul is material and visible to human beings, and usually takes the form of a hee. A Buryat story relates how a man saw a bee issue from the nose of his sleeping friend, fly round and outside the yurta. return, and nearly drown itself in a vessel of water, but then recover and return to his friend by the same way. The latter when he awoke related a dream he had had, the details of which coincided with the movements of the bee in every way. Such stories tend to strengthen these beliefs. During an illness the soul is held captive by spirits sent by the Supreme Being, and to discover which spirits are at work, the shaman performs incantations with the scorched shoulder-bone of a sheep. While these spirits are persecuting the soul, the latter tries to escape by taking the form of different animals — thus a woman's soul frequently assumes the form of a magpie. It is especially dangerous to sneeze during sleep, for then the soul springs momentarily from the bodj", and the evil spirits who are on the watch seize it before it can hide.'' A good shaman can, however, recover the soul of a sick person even if it has been captured by Erlik Khan himself.^
The future life is very similar to the present. There are
' rotanin, Sketches ofN.W. Mongolia, p. 37. - Vol. iii, p. 33.
^ AgapitoflFand Khangaloff, op. cit., pp. 158-9.
< Op. cit., pp. 160-2. '" Op. cit., p. 163.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 159
feasting ami nianiage ceremonies, and people are dressed well or badly according to the condition of their burial garments.^
In spite of this similarity the soul of the dead man acquires new qualities. It is visible to the living, but leaves no tracks on the ashes of the hearth and passes noiselessly over dead leaves ; it can be killed, and it then takes the form of a pelvis, but it has the power to become a soul again after three days unless prevented by a slight learning of the pelvis ; in some parts there is a belief that the soul disappears after its second death without leaving any trace. 2
When a man dies, the souls of his dead relatives anxiously await his arrival in the other world and prepare a feast for him ; he, however, finds it difficult to realize that he is dead, and only after three days (during which the other souls make him pass over the ashes on the hearth of his living friends in order to see that he leaves no tracks) is he persuaded of the fact. According to Klementz, the Buryat believe that souls of the dead which become harmful belong to different categories : as, for example, the dalchidz, which may be the transformed souls of poor people and are harmful only to little children, and mu-slm-hii (' malicious bird '), which may be the transformed souls of girls and young women.
With regard to ancestor- worship, Klementz states that only distinguished persons are venerated after death. In former times the old people were depi'ived of life — 'aged men and women were dressed in their very best clothes, were seated in the place of honour, in the circle of their relatives and friends, and after conversation and libations of wine, were made to swallow a long strip of fat, which naturally resulted in their death from suffo- cation." ^ This custom was established by Esseghe Malan Tengeri, who was one of the most popular of the Western (good) Tengeris, and quite recently Klementz heard of a Buryat who drove his aged grandfather into a wood and left him to die. This explains the existence of numerous stories of parents killing their children to avoid being maltreated by them later on.
' The idea of judgement after death is absent fi-om pure Shamanism, so that where it is found it must be considered as borrowed from Bhuddism. (Op. cit., p. 165.)
= Op. cit., p. 169.
^ Klementz, op. cit., p. 9.
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XI. The Yakut.
' Send me some melted butter, some vodka and some meat, if you have it, for I am dying, and would once more enjoy the good things of the earth ' ; such was the message sent to Sieroszewski ^ by a poor Yakut, Tarsatyng, who lived near him. The behaviour of several people at whose death this writer was present corre- sponded to that implied in the above message. The only thing which a Yakut really cares for before death is to be certain that an animal will be slain directly after he dies, in order that, accom- panied by this animal, his soul may make the journey to the abode of the departed. On the death of a man a bullock or a horse is killed on the death of a woman, a cow or a calf ; if the deceased was rich the animal is fat and able to be ridden, other- wise the soul must either drive it in front of him or drag it by the horns. The flesh of the dead animal is eaten by the gravediggers and all the funeral company. The custom is called Ichailijga or kJiailige. In the north, where these customs are more strictly practised, even the poorest man will kill his last cow to fulfil the conditions. When a Cossack asked some Yakut to place a monu- ment on the grave of his brother who had died at Kenurakh Station while on a journey, they said, ' If you wish to hire us you must first slay an animal, for there was no blood shed on the grave of your brother and we fear to work there.' ^
When a man dies, the body is clothed in a rich garment and placed in a corner of the dwelling, where it lies for three days ; on the third day it is placed in a wooden coffin, which is drawn to the grave by a horse or bullock. No one but the gravediggers accom- pany it, and even they hasten to complete their work and return home ; on their way back they do not stop or look behind, and when they enter the gate of the village they and the animal must pass through a fire made from the straw on Avhich the dead man lay and the wood left from the making of the coffin. Other things which have been in contact with the dead, such as the shovel, are also broken and burnt. On the death of a child, its cradle is left on the grave and its toys hanging on the nearest tree.
Pripuzoff says that, while in former times at the burial of an important man his riding-horse with all its trappings, rich furs, and provisions for a journey, as well as a servant, were buried
1 Sieroszewski. 12 Lett ir Kraju Yal-utdw, 1900, p. 616. ^ Op. cit., p. 617.
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alive with him, this is now restricted to the killing of the best horse.^ The Yakut have great fear of a corpse before it is burned : it is supposed to be able to disturb the forces of nature, producing great storms, and the influence of the corpse of a shaman is even more powerful. A great wind is held to be favourable, as it will smooth out the tracks on the way to the place of the funeral, otherwise many of the living will follow the dead. Sieroszewski says that in olden times the Yakut exposed the dead on a tree or on a platform placed on two poles called arancjJca.'^ He saw such platforms on which skeletons still remained, but he thinks that this custom has been borrowed from the Gilyak or Yukaghir. There is. however, still another form of linrial among the Yakut, which consists in leaving the dead in the house with all the utensils belonging to him.
There existed formerly the custom that an old or very weak person requested his relatives to bury him. All the villagers were invited to a three days' feast, during which the old man, attired in his finest garments, occupied the chief position. On the third day his relatives took him to the forest, where a grave had been pre- pared, and one of them would suddenly strike him down. With him in the grave were placed food and his weapons. Sometimes husband and wife were buried together, or a living animal was buried with the person or was tied to the nearest tree (surge). Sieroszewski tells how a Cossack brought an old woman from a grave in the forest who lived for some years afterwards. Until the corpse is buried the soul remains near the house and endeavours to remind the relatives of its existence. Some souls never leave the earth and are never quiet ; such souls are called 1/or. The souls of those who have died young or suffered death by violence, or who were buried without ceremonies, as well as of the shamans and great people, become yor.'^
XII. The Altaians.
Among the Altaians the corpse is treated in different ways. It is sometimes exposed on a raised platform or buried in a mountain with the best horse of the deceased person ; sometimes it is burned or exposed on a tree.'* Potanin says that in former times the body
' Pripuzoff, Materials for the Study of Shamanism among the Yakut,
p. 6.T.
^ Sieroszewski, op. cit., pp. 616-17. ' Ibid.
* Wierbicki, The yatives of the Altai, p. 68.
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sledge and attached to the body. On arrival at the appointed place, the sacrificial reindeer is killed and the sledge, which is usually specially made for the occasion, is broken up, and, with all other objects used in the ceremony, is formed into a pile on which the broken bones of the reindeer are placed. The followers next transform themselves into ravens or foxes, making appro- priate noises, the straps which held the body to the sledge are torn in pieces, and the clothes torn off and placed beside the body, which is then covered with pieces of reindeer flesh. 'Then "the fortifier", or nearest relative of the deceased, proceeds to rip up the body. He does it with a long knife, carefully avoiding touching the body with his hands, though they are protected with mittens or with gloves of special form (that is, those witli three fingers only). With two strokes of the knife which cross each other, " the fortifier " opens the breast and lays bare the internal organs. Of these the liver and the heart are also split with the knife, and '• the fortifier ", on inspecting them closely, will proclaim to the bystander the probable reason of the death.' ^ Sometimes this reason is merely the evil spells of an enemy.^ Before leaving the body, which now forms part of the pile, ' the fortifier ' cuts its throat. Bogoras was told that in former days the flesh of the deceased was distributed and eaten by relatives ; now each relative takes a small piece of fur from the clothes of the deceased and adds it to the string of such pieces which form the ancestor charms (sympathetic magic).''' ^ When the body is not exposed, but burned, the entrails are not always inspected, but the throat is always cut, and the face and genitalia are always covered. The fire is produced by a fire-drill specially prepared for the occasion, which is left on the pyre.'' On the return journey the people change their order of progress and perform many protective incantations, e.g. 'the fortifier' throws behind him a few small stones which shall turn into mountains. The funeral train are received on their return by the two oldest women of the i:)lace, who meet them with charms."
Next day the relatives perform the ceremony of 'visiting the dead ' or * fetching of iron ', the latter title being due to the fact
' Op. cit., p. 527. 2 Op pjt^ p 528. 3 Qp. cit., p. 517.
* It is curious to note that, on p. 518, Bogoras states that the dead body or any portion of it is especially harmful and is used in preparing dreaded spells. It appears that according to the quality of the incanta- tion the dead body or its clothes may be either harmful or protective.
» Op. cit., p. 532. « Op. cit., p. 528.
L 2
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that the iron implements are brought away from the pyre and wooden ones left in their stead. If they find that the body has been disturbed by wild beasts they feel more secure. The iron objects are purified before being carried home, and the reindeer's antlers are left as a sacrifice.^
The funeral rites, like the Inrth rites, terminate on the fifth day : the corpse is again visited ' to see if wild beasts have at last mutilated the body ',^ and, on returning from this visit, the antlers ceremony is performed (even if it is out of season), and then the whole family remove their tent to another spot. ' Es- pecially is this the case if the corpse was carried out, as sometimes happens, through the usual entrance.'"^ The following year the family leaves some more antlers on the pyre, or a communal sacri- fice of antlers for the dead in general is performed, and in this way arise high mounds which are termed ' Antler Stores ', and are associated with the family rather than the individual.'* Of course, in the case of the Maritime Chukchee, we do not find so many sacrifices of reindeer and antlers, but the general forms are the same. The ceremony of the sacrifice to the dead is performed in a special place called ' Hearth Enclosure ', except "when the dead has perished in the sea, when it is performed in a special place on the shore. ' A man who is supposed to have perished at sea, but w^ho in the end escapes and lands on shore, must imdergo a purifying ceremony.' ''
There are several places of abode for the dead, where life similar to the earthly is led by the inhabitants, who are often called either ' Upper People ' or ' Lower People ', that is, inhabi- tants of several worlds situated either above the earth or under- ground.'^ ' Children that die here are born there and vice versa.' While some of the dead are in the upper worlds, their usual abode is under the ground." A dead person has to traverse difficult paths before reaching the other world ; he has also to pass through the country of dogs, and a man who has ill-treated these animals wall be severely injured by them. His dead relatives w'ill assist him in finding the way, and he must not take with him any stolen article in case the rightful owner should
' Op. cit., pp. 530 1. 2 Op. cit., p. 532. ^ Ibid.
' Op. cit., p. 533. '^ Op. cit., p. 536. « Op. cit., p. 334.
^ Besides these worlds there exists one in each direction of the compass. These are receiving-phices for sacrifices. There is also a separate world under the water. (,0p. cit., p. 331.)
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 149
meet him. In the other world the sacrificed animals form large herds belonging to the dead.^- -
'The Aurora Borealis is chiefly the place of abode for those who die a sudden or violent death. The whitish spots are the people who died from contagious diseases ; tlie red spots are those stabbed with a knife ; the dark spots are those strangled by the "spirits" of nervous diseases; the changeable rays are deceased people running about and playing ball witli a walrus-head, which is alive. '"^
Deceased women who had no husbands go to a world of their own situated in the lower portion of the sk}-. ' They live there catching reindeer with nooses and nets.'^
V. The Koryak.
Among the Koryak a person is declared dead when breathing ceases. This is considered to signify that the chief soul {uyicit), being attacked by the Jcalau, deserts the body, although death can also be sent as a punishment from the Supreme Beings.^ There is, however, another soul called ' breath ' {ivui/ivi), and still another called ^ shsido^y ' {wuyil-icu7/il).° When the Koryak says that the kala eats the soul, he understands that the spirit eats the human flesh, being particularly fond of human liver, although the body really remains untouched until it is burned. The soul does not immediately quit the earth, but wanders aliout for some time, and it is possible for a very clever shaman to bring it back. Yulta, a Koiyak from Kamenskoye, told Jochelson that his father after one death had Ijeen brought back to life by a shaman and lived for some years before his second death."
According to Jochelson, among the Koryak there exist two conceptions of the abode of the departed. One soul of the deceased may rise to the Supreme Being, this idea being very indefinite, but another one goes to the underground world, that of 'people of the ancient times', peninelau, and the description of the future life of the departed is based on their life in this world.
^ Bogoras notes that this description does not harmonize with the assertion that people when they die are killed by the Met, who also eat their souls. (Op. cit., p. 336.)
* Op. cit., pp. 330-6. 3 Op. cit., p. 335. " Ibid.
^ Of a belief in this kind of death we have, however, no further evidence, while all funeral rites take into account death by the kalau.
• Jochelson, TJie Koryak, J. N. P. E., 1905, p. 104. ' Op. cit., pp. 1-2.
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The peninelau live in the underground world in similar villages and in a similar way to their manner of life on earth, and the new-comer at once finds his place among his relatives. At the entrance to this underworld are found dogs as guardians, and a person who used to beat his dog during his life on earth will be stopped by them, though, in order to propitiate the guardians, he can carry in his mittens the fins of fishes, of which they are very fond.^ Communication between the underground world and the earth was formerly much easier, and on the occasion of the burning of a corjjse advantage is taken of the opportunity by many people to place presents for their relatives on the same pyre. ' In olden times, children killed their aged parents. This custom, which still prevails among the Chukchee, is now com- pletely abandoned.'- On the contrary, if the dying man is able to eat he is given the choicest morsels ; if the agony lasts long he is turned on to his left side, because they think that thus he will die sooner. Immediately on the death of a person the news is spread in all directions by messengers, and all the villagers begin to make incantations to protect themselves from the evil influence of the deceased. * One of the relatives of the deceased holds the head of the dead on his knees until all the inhabitants of the village have been informed ' ^ ; and only then is the deceased placed on his bed and his face carefully covered. In former times, the whole settlement ceased work on the occasion of a death, but this is now done only by the members of the house- hold who are entirely occupied in their preparations for the funeral. Tlie men prepare the pyre, the women the clothes. The funeral garment is elaborately embroidered. This has been secretly made during the man's lifetime by a woman, and it must not be shown to any one or finished before death has occurred, as such action would hasten the end.'* As soon as the clothes are ready, within three days at most, the body is taken out of the house and burned ; until this is done the relatives behave as if the man were alive, they are not even allowed to show sorrow. In dressing the corpse certain differences are made, such as placing the cap on the head fi'ont to back."' ' The Eeindeer Koryak do not carry out their dead through the usual door, but under the edge of the tent-cover, which is lifted up.' ^ Some families have special places for the funeral ceremonies, and in
^ Op. cit., p. 103. 2 Ibid. » Op. cit., p. 104.
* Op. cit., p. 105. ^ Op. cit., p. 109. " Op. cit., pp. 110-11.
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certain parts, as in Kanienskoye, women do not accompany the body.^ All the personal belongings of the man are placed on the pyre with the corpse, the reindeer are slaughtered and eaten by the company, and only the remains left on the pyre.- Jochelson related that at one funeral where he Avas present the grandfather walked round the pyre, first from right to left and then from left to right, in order to confuse his tracks so that the dead might not follow him. He then took a few steps in the direction of the house, drew a line on the ground, jumped over it and shook himself, the whole company doing likewise ; this was supposed to have the etfect of forming a large river between the village and the funeral pyre.^ Like the Chukchee, the Reindeer Koryak, especially those of the Palpal Ridge, dissect the body of the dead in order to find out the probable cause of death. Among other Reindeer Koryak of the Taiganos Peninsula, and among the Maritime Koryak of Penshina Bay, the custom exists of stabbing the corpse with a knife as it lies on the pyre ; this is to prevent the child who will reincarnate the soul from having the same illness as the deceased.^ The sleeping-place of the dead man is destroyed, but for ten days his position is taken by one of his relatives, so that the htla may believe that he was not successful in obtaining the soul of the deceased ; this relative is known as incnjulan, and if he leaves the house some one else must take his place : sometimes an effigy formed of dried grass plays the role of an inenjulan. The finale of the funeral ceremony is the beating of the drum, which takes place among the Reindeer Koryak immediately after the burning of the body, and among the Maritime Koryak at the end of ten days.^ Annual sacrifices for the dead are still performed among the Koryak, and consist either in slaughtering reindeer or in placing antlers on the spot where the body was burned, though some Koryak content them- selves with sending presents to their dead relatives on the occasion of another funeral. Jochelson thinks that some traditions point to another form of funeral rites according to which the body was left in the desei-ted house.'''
VI. The Gilyak.
According to the Gilyak, death always results from the action of
bad spirits, who usually do not continue to persecute the deceased ;
^ Op. cit., p. HI. 2 Krasheninnikoff, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 166.
' Jochelson, The Korijah, J. N. P. K., 1907, p. 112.
* Op. cit., p. 130. 5 Op. cit.. 130. « Op. cit., p. 114.
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but before the soul can find its resting-place {Mhj-vo, the habitation of the dead) it requires much care and attention from its relatives on earth. The body is clothed in fine new garments, beautifully embroidered, that of a man receiving one, three, or six gowns, and that of a woman, two, four, or eight ; they also prepare most elaborate weapons, and during this time the corpse is entertained in a sumptuous manner ; from morning till evening many people feast in the yurta, giving portions of the rich food to the corpse, and laughing and shouting, because it is not well that silence should reign where the dead lie.
When everything is ready, the corpse is tied to the sledge with leather straps. The dead man's favourite dog is placed next him for a time, and will receive and keep for a few months a portion of his master's soul. During this time the dog lies in the sleeping- place and receives the best food ; this ceases when the portion of the soul returns with all the other souls to its master in Mly-vo.^ When the corpse is brought to the spot chosen for the funeral it is put on the top of a symmetrical pyre, with its face towards the west ; the ceremonial fire is obtained by friction, and all the company, even small children, assist in making the fire burn more quickly. Four men, one at each corner, stand with poles stirring the fire, and many objects such as weapons, sledges, and pans, are broken up and, with the sacrificial dogs, are cast upon the pyre.^ Schrenck^ says that the widow sets light to the pyre^ and that the skins of the sacrificed dogs are made into a coat for her. Part of the flesh of the dogs is eaten by the company, small pieces of it being scattei'ed in all directions.^ A few weeks later, near the place of the funeral, a toy house is built with a window and a door, a small figure of a man dressed in silk is placed inside, and above this a representation of the cuckoo, which in Gilyak mythology is the emblem of the goddess of love ; with the doll are placed food and smoking apparatus.'' Schrenck says that the small house — called raff — is built over the spot where the relatives have placed a vessel containing the ashes of the dead, and that a small part of the clothes, hair, and skull is kept inside it. Not every dead person has a raff; the corpse of a small child is not burned, but
* 'It is interesting', sajs Sternberg (p. 75), 'that this portion of the soul, sometimes termed "little soul", has alwaj's, for the Gilyak, the shape of a small ^gg.^
"^ Sternberg, The Gilyak, 1905, pp. 76-7.
s The Natives of the Amur Country, 1899, pp. 136-44.
* Sternberg, op. cit., p. 77. ^ Op. cit., p. 78.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 153
buried at once, as its soul does not wander after death ; again, that of a person killed by a bear is placed in a shed called chijr-nijykh, near the plac^ of the accident, and food is brought thither several times.^ His soul, however, goes to the forest, and becomes trans- formed into a bear.-
According to Sternberg, for a few months, and according to Schrenck, for a year, the relatives visit the raff with presents of food.
Mli/-io is reached by the soul passing through a hole in the earth, the exact location of which is unknown to the living. This realm is a counterpart of the physical world, and the dead live in the same way as they did on earth — fishing, hunting, marrying, and having children — except that the poor man becomes rich there and the rich man poor. They have sickness and death, after which the soul goes to the third world. Some souls are transformed into birds and gnats and finally into ashes, but some are reborn into this world. The souls of those who die a violent death do not go to Mly-vo, but to Tlo, which is in the sky.^
VII. The Ainu.
Among the Ainu, ' when a person is about to be buried, whether man, woman, or child, the spirit is still spoken to as if it were present in the corpse, and is supposed to partake of the burial feast together with the mourners.' The possessions of the dead and his hut are burned. Batchelor* says that after death the Ainu ' look for judgement ', the ' worthy ' go to Kanun-Kotan or Kanun-moshiri ('the land' or 'country of gods'), and the 'wicked' to Tei-nei-pdkna-moshiri ('the wet underground place ').^ But as the common word for dying is ra-i-oman, i. e. ' going to the lower place ',^ and as, during the ceremonies of sacrificing to ancestors, they pray : ' ye ancestors now dwelling in the under- world ',' it seems that the former ideas of a future life were associated rather with the underworld.'*
On the other hand, there exists among them at present the notion of the vertical division of the universe into six worlds aljove and
' Schrenck, op. cit., p. 137. ^ Qp. cit., p. 131.
' Sternberg, op. cit., p. 76.
* Batchelor, 'The Ainu,' E.R.E., vol. i, p. 251. = Ibid.
* Ibid. 7 Ibid.
* Batchelor (p. 251) says there are other terms for death such as 'to pierce the skies ', ' to sleep the other sleep ', but they are not in common use.
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six below the earth. Batchelor calls these six heavens and six hells.i
The future life will be very much like the present : the same work and pleasures. To prevent the spirit of the dead from coming to disturb his relatives, prayers and sacrifices are made to him. These are the most regular ceremonies in the Ainu religion ; even women, who do not join in religious ceremonies as a rule, take part in the sacrifices for dead husbands and ancestors.
' The ceremony of ancestor- worship is called shinnurappa, i. e. •'libation-dropping", and takes place outside the huts, by the east- end window and a little towards the west.' Meals and fetishes are offered and prayers are said. Batchelor quotes the following prayer: '0 ye ancestors, now dwelling in the underworld, we offer you beer and lees, receive them and rejoice. Your grand- children have met together specially to offer these things. Rejoice ! Watch over us and keep us from sickness. Give us a long life so that we may continue to offer such gifts.'
VIII. The Eskimo.
Although the Eskimo do not ethnographically belong to the group of Palaeo-Siberians, they do geographically, and for the purpose of making comparisons it will be advisable to consider their beliefs concerning death.
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The Buryat fears to be without children, and a childless man says sadly, 'The fire of my hearth will go out.' The strongest Buryat oath is 'May my fire be extinguished ! ' ^ Among the Buryat of Alai-sk, if the first children die, the parents catch a brown owl and feed it, thinking that this owl wall send away the bad spirit AnakJiai, when the child cries in its cradle. Besides this they prepare an ongon called iiseten in the following way. All the neighbours are invited as well as the kam (shaman). The women prepare a figure and the men a box for it. The woman in whose interest all this is done carries during this time a child's swaddling clothes or a specially made doll, and pretends to feed it at her breast. Those present ask her sympathetically, ' How is your child ? Is he quiet ? Have you much trouble with him '? ' Then the guests take turns in nursing it, and if the woman should leave the hut, they will call to her to return because the child is crying. Among the same people there exists, in connexion with the rearing of a child, the custom of becoming naydji with a shaman. The word naydji really signifies ' friend ', but in this case it simply indicates the intimate relations which exist between the parents and a shaman.-
When, after the birth, a sheep is killed, a portion of the animal is sent to a shaman, to indicate that he is invited to become naydji, and soon after this he is actually called to the house. On his arrival he orders a Morho (shaman's staff) to be prepared and places it across the threshold ; then he hangs an amulet round the child's neck. This visit is called salaiM hayuga. During the following year the child is under the care of the shaman.^ If the child is slightly unwell, or his teeth trouble him, or he has a slight fever, the shaman is at once called in to pacify him. Sometimes he will spend three whole days carrying the child in his bosom.
' Ibid. 2 Op. cit., p. 28. ^ Op. cit., p. 29.
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At the end of the year this saliiJch (probably the amulet) is re- turned to the shaman. Then the parents prepare fine new garments and other presents, sometimes even a horse, and take them to the shaman's house, where they are hospitably received. One shaman can have at the same time as many as twenty nai/dji, and when he wishes to consecrate a new drum the naydji give him sheep and the other requisites for the ceremony.^
Among the Buryat of Idinsk, if there are no children in the family, a feast is arranged to which the shaman is invited ; the women and girls dance, and afterwards all sit down and the shaman, taking his staff {khoyho), sings a hymn to the Bear ongon, and then strikes the cheeks of those present. The ones who receive the hardest blows will become parents.^
Among the Uriankhai (Tuba) in the Ulukhem district, when the first children die young, the newly born is hidden under the cooking cauldron, on the top of which is placed ag-prenya (an ongon made from the skin of a hare) and also a figure representing the child, made from barley-meal. Then the Mm (shaman) is called, and begins to shamanize over this figure. According to the Uriankhai who related this to Potanin, the figure then comes to life, its abdomen is cut open, the blood begins to flow, and the sufferer cries. Then its body is cut into three parts and buried far away from the house. This ceremony will protect the child from death. ^
The Diurbiut have a similar ceremony to protect the child from death. Soon after birth it is stolen by some relatives and hidden under a cauldron, where it remains for three days, well fed and tended. At the same time these relatives make an image of grass and throw it into the tent of the parents, who, when they find it, pretend to see in it their own dead child and bewail and bury it with much ceremony. This is to persuade the evil spirit {chitJcur) who wished to harm the child that the latter is dead and buried. '^
VII. The Altaians.
Among the Altaians the child is born before a great assembly of people who shout and fire their guns. A name is given to the child by the head of the family, who usually chooses the name of the first person who enters the yiirta after the delivery. Generally
» Op. cit., p. 29. 2 Op. cit., p. 28.
=> Op. cit., p. 27. •• Op. cit., p. 28.
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such names signify different objects, e. g. wontik (a gun), but if the fii-st children die. thej' try to give the next a name implying worthlessness or humility, e. g. It-koden (the haunch of a dog). The fire of the ijurta where the child is born must not be taken out of it for forty days — the more superstitious even lengthen this period to a year.^ Potanin ^ says that when the first-born of the Altaian parents die, the parents steal a child from some one so that the real mother does not know where it is for three days, and a month later the parents of the stolen child go to redeem it with presents. To protect a boy from evil spirits an arrow and a branch of a thorny plant are hung over his cradle.^ Among the Teleut those who desire a child do not steal one, but buy it from its parents and return it after a while.^
VIII. The Yakut.
According to Sieroszewski, ^ Yakut marriages are generally fruitful, averaging ten children to a woman, but becoming less so towards the northern districts, although the Yakut are every- wliere more prolific than the Tungus. The lack of children they ascribe entirely to the woman — as their proverb says, *If there are no children, the woman is to blame.'"
According to Jochelson,' women from the north have very difficult delivery. The Yakut regard the pain of child-birth as sickness caused by evil spirits, and therefore, if the assistance of a midwife or of the goddess of fertility Ayisit is of no avail, a shaman is called in to fight the evil spirits, adass/jlar. Jochelson thinks the Yakut appeal to the shaman not in order to save the mother and child, but to prevent the evil spirit from winning a victory. ' No consideration is shown to either mother or child ; for women possessed of evil spirits are regarded by the Yakut as no less perilous to society than those infected with epidemic germs. This accounts for the entire absence of compassion, and for the cruelty manifested by the Yakut towards women suffering the pains of labour.' ^
1 Wierbicki, TJie Natives of the Altai, 1893, p. 85.
2 Potanin, op. cit., p. 627. ^ Ibid. ^ Ibid. ^ 12 Lat w Kraju Yakutow, 1900, p. 413.
^ Out of 140 Yakut coui'jlesF. Kohn (Fiziologiczne i hiologiczne spostrze- zenia nad Yakutami, p. 64) found one woman who had had thirty, another twenty-one, and a third Beventeen children.
?^ The Yukaghir and Yukaghirized Tungus, J. N. P. E., vol. ix, 1910, p. 101.
» Op. cit., p. 102.
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In 1895 Jochelson himself witnessed such cruel treatment in the district of the Kolyma Eiver, as a result of which the woman died ; and a similar case was related to him by the Eussian criminal exile Gel>ler.
The customary measures for hastening delivery are as follows : * Two small posts are driven into the ground and a third one is fastened across the top of them, forming thus a l)ar like that used by a blacksmith in shoeing a horse. The woman kneels down in front of this bar, and throws her arms over the crosspiece far enough to In-ing the latter under her armpits. One man from behind holds her shoulders and another in front holds her hands to prevent any possibility of her resisting the obstetric operations of the midwife. The latter kneels in front of the patient and presses upon her abdomen, at the same time imploring the aid of the benevolent goddess Ayisit, who is believed to be present at child-birth and to assist the patient.'^
Maak - says that the reason why the Yakuts do not take care of their lying-in women is that they believe the goddess is pei'fectly capable of protecting them herself. The only protective measure of w^hich Maak could hear was the food taboo observed before child-birth ; the woman must eat neither swan's flesh nor the eggs of wild birds, because the child might otherwise be deaf and imbecile. Ayisit, sometimes called AniTcliyt, leaves the woman on the third day. This is known as Ayisit-atarar Kiune (i. e. ' the protectress leaves the birth-giving woman ').^ Among the Yakut of the district of Kolyma Jochelson found a belief similar to that of the Yukaghir — that the labour will be eased if the woman names the father of her child. Usually she tells the truth, but sometimes she does not wish to betray her lover and refuses to answer, especially if she is the daughter of rich parents and the man a poor servant, because then the child will be called ' the execrated child '.*
On the occasion of a birth the Yakut make holiday on the first and the third days. The first day they prepare a large quantity of fat, which they eat and melt and drink, sacrificing a portion to the fire. On the third day the friends and relations visit the mother and child, and it is customary for the former to serve the
1 Op. cit., p. 102.
2 TJie Vihnjsl: District of the Yakutsk Territory, 1887, vol. iii, p. 90.
3 Ibid.
* Jochelson, op. cit., p. 101.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH 143
guests hei-self. Nowadays it is not fat but meat which forms the principal dish.^
Sieroszewski describes the coming of Ayisit to the woman at child-birth as being similar to her appearance at the fertility festival held in spring. Nine chaste boys and nine men are actually present to attend on her, and, in imagination, many other spirits help to form her retinue. A rich Yakut kills a domestic animal at her appearance, and the head and entrails are sacrificed to the goddess, while the rest of the beast goes to the old woman who has been tending the mother and to the relatives and guests. As soon as the child is born, the old woman approaches the fire and pours some fat on it, saying ' Thank you, Ayisit, for your gift, we ask you for more in the future '. If the woman is to die, Ayisit does not come at all. For the three days that Ayisit is present the woman must lie on straw in the yurta and no man is allowed to enter. Only at the end of that time does she return to her sleeping place. The straw, with the placenta, is taken to the forest far away from the yioiu by the old woman, who places it high up on the trunk of a tree.^
Jochelson ^ says that similar ceremonies are performed by the Yakut at the birth of cattle. Severe measures are employed to deliver the animals ; a benevolent goddess is believed to be present, and a special shaman is called in to pronounce an incantation. The following is the formula used at the birth of a calf : ' Lax ! Lax ! Lax ! Be faster than an arrow, lighter than a hair, as usual march through a white straight road.'*
IX. The Finns and Lapps.
Nonvegian missionaries as early as the eighteenth century described curious purification ceremonies in connexion with birth among the Lapps.
After Christian baptism °^ the child received another — Lapp — name in the ceremony called ' same nahma '. This name was usually that of an ancestor, and had been revealed to the mother in a dream or during shamanistic performances. The name- giving ceremony was usually performed by a woman — often by the mother herself. During child-birth the woman was under the protection of a goddess called Saralla (Creator-woman).
' Maak, op. cit., p. 91. ^ Sieroszewski. op. cit., pp. 413-14.
' Op. cit., p. 103. * Op. cit., p. 104.
» Kaarle Krohn, E. R. E., ' Birth ', vol. ii, 1909, p. 647.
Ui SOCIOLOGY
A woman (riscm-cdne), who seems to have corresponded to the modern godmother, presented the child with a brass object ^ called nahma-sJciclls, which was used during the ceremony, and afterwards placed on the child as a charm, under the arm if the child was a boy, and on the breast if it was a girl. The child was dedicated to the goddess Sarulka. Later, if the child did not thrive, this ceremony could be repeated and the name changed. The name-giving ceremony is similar to that found all over Siberia, but wherever water is used we may, with Krohn, assume that this is due to Christian influence. 'As late as 1534 the Finns under the dominion of Novgorod (the Chudes) had oracle- men whom they summoned to give a new-born child its name — a ceremony which they performed "' in their own peculiar way ".'2
'The magician of the Finno-Ugrian Mountain Cheremiss adopts the following method in bestowing the name. Taking the child in his arms as it is on the point of screaming, he begins a list of names, swaying the child to and fro as he speaks, and that name which he happens to be uttering when the crying ceases is the one selected. Among the adjacent Chuvasses the magician is called in to the child, and is received with tokens of the greatest respect by the domestics and the assembled guests, who with one voice express the desire that he will give the child a name of good omen. He takes a bowl of water in his hand, mutters certain words over it, and gives both the mother and the child to drink. Then he works himself into an ecstasy, and at last bestows upon the child a name which he professes to have received by divine revelation. ' ^
^ The brass object must have been borrowed from Scandinavia, and Krohn (ibid.) suggests that this custom is not genuine Lapp. 2 Ibid. 3 Op. cit., p. 648.
CHAPTER VI
DEATH. BURIAL, FUTURE LIFE, AND ANCESTOR- WORSHIP
PALAEO-SIBERIANS.
I. The Kamchadal.
Among the Kamchadal at the time of Krasheninnikoff ^ a corpse was treated in the following manner : Leather thongs were bound round the throat and the body dragged out of the yurta and left at a short distance from the door to be eaten by dogs, the idea being that the person whose corpse was thus eaten would have power to drive those animals in the future life ; the house in which a person died was always deserted, and its inhabitants at once removed to another dwelling at a certain distance. With the corpse, his clothes were also thrown away, and any one who should wear these afterwards was believed to be in danger of an early death. There existed also certain purification ceremonies for anything with which the dead had come in contact. Children were buried in hollow tree-trunks.
II. The Yukaghir,
Among the Yukaghir the dead were formerly placed on plat- forms raised on poles. Those of the Kolyma district used to distribute the flesh and bones among the relatives, who would dry the portions they received and place them in leather bags.^ These were used as amulets, called ' Grandfathers ', and were considered very effective in sympathetic magic.
IIL The Kerek.
Among the Kerek, who live near the mouths of the rivers emptying into the Pacific Ocean between Capes Anannon and Barykoff, and who have no timber or driftwood for building pyres,
' Description of the Country of Kamchatka, 1755, vol. ii, pp. 135-6. ^ Bogoras, The Chukchee, 1907, p. 517.
146 SOCIOLOGY
tlie corpses, dressed in funeral attire, are let down into the ocean ; they tie them to long poles, tow them out to sea, and then push them into the water with poles. ^
IV. The Chukchee.
Among the Chukchee the whole of the funeral rites are a series of i^rotective magical ceremonies against the evil influences of the dead. Though the latter are sometimes benevolent, the idea that they work harm to the living is much more prevalent. * The most dangerous are the double dead, the completely dead. They are beyond being reborn into this world, and hence they become evil spirits in the other world. They live on the very border of the country of the deceased people, and walk along the water's edge together with the Jcelet. During the funeral ceremony, some such dead are overturned with the sledge and fall face downward,' said a native to Bogoras.'-^ Directly after death the body is stripped of its apparel and laid between two leather skins in the sleeping-chamber, care, however, being taken to cover the genitals and the face. The corpse is deserted by all except for one man by day and two by night, who must watch in case the dead should come to life. This watch usually lasts only twenty-four hours, during which time ceremonies are performed by a man or woman, called a ' fortifier ' {tano mnal'm), because he is supposed to fortify the house and people against the influences of the deceased.^ Some other people, called 'the followers', wash and dress the body with special ceremonials, keeping the head of the corpse turned towards the exit. The dress for the dead is also prepared with ceremonies. For three days after the death no drum is beaten, and noisy domestic work by the women, such as the scraping of pans, ceases. The body is then either burned or exposed on the ground in some lonely spot, the latter being most usual.'* During these ceremonials the corpse is questioned as to its choice of manner of burial and the disposing of its goods, and the questioners pretend to obey its will. The body is usually drawn up through a hole in the roof, or in the back of the tent, and then all traces of tlie passage are removed to prevent the possible return of the dead. All his private property is conveyed on the same
1 Jochelson, Tlie Konjal; J. N. P. E., 1908, p. 104. ^ Bogoras, The Chukchee, J.N. RE., 1907, p. 518. 3 Op. cit., pp. 519-20. ?• Op. cit., p. 524.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 147
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The other members of the household must refrain from shouting and talking loudly in her presence, otherwise she will shout during child-birth. No one may cross her path or stop her in her walk, as this may cause delay in delivery ; in the last few days when she is unable to observe the active taboos, her husband and relatives perform them in her stead. ^ At the first attack of labour-pains the wife, the husband, and the midwife must loosen all the fastenings of their garments that the child may not be hampered in any way ; except the father and husband of the woman, no men are allowed to be present. The woman is forced to walk about the room in order to facilitate the delivery — then she is placed on the knees of her husband or her father, who squeezes and presses her abdomen on all sides with his arm, sometimes assisted by the women ; sometimes another man assists the first, to add more pressure upon her abdomen.'^ Fre- quently the woman dies under this treatment, a result which was witnessed by Jochelson himself on one occasion. After the child
' Ibid.
^ .Jochelson say.s the Yukaghir knew nothing of horned cattle before the arrival of the Yakut in the north, so that this custom must have been borrowed from the latter people.
3 Op. cit., p. 99. * Op, cit., p. 100. ^ Op. cit., p. 101.
K 2
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is born, the micl^Yife massages the abdomen of the mother or forces her to walk about. Then she is dressed and lies down ' to allow the bones disjointed during the birth to come together again V but she begins to walk outside the house the very next da)^ ' For the first three days she must not touch anything in the house. On the fourth day the midwife washes her, and she, in turn, washes the hands of the midwife and wipes them with fresh shavings of willow or with a piece of newly-prepared reindeer-skin. Braids of women's hair also serve for this purpose. Then the midwife purifies the woman by means of smoke. Dry grass is kindled on the floor of the house, and the woman passes through the smoke, stopping a while and shaking her body. Then she may attend to her household duties, but is still considered unclean for forty days. The husband must have no intercourse with her, and she must not have anything to do with the hunting and fishing implements.' ^
Similar taboos are observed during menstruation. The birth of a child is a very important event, for the celebration of which, called pacil, the whole village is invited, whereas a marriage has no special ceremonies connected "s^dth it.^ A name was formerly not given to the child until it could speak, but now it is given soon after birth ; the former arrangement allowed the child to give the name of the ancestor aihi of whom he is the reincarna- tion and whose name he ought to bear. It is still customary for the parents, after the Ijirth of the first child, to be known by its name — thus, ' the Father and Mother of So-and-So.' Jochelson knew a blacksmith on the River Nelemna, whose Christian name was Basil, but who changed his name to ' the Father of Chotini ' after the birth of his first child.'*
Sterility is a punishment and a sign of disfavour on the part of dead relatives. ' A barren woman may ask the help of a shaman, who descends to the world of the deceased and persuades the soul of a relative to enter the woman's body, but such a child very often dies.'''
In the old days, says Jochelson, new-born children were killed if the mother died.'' Children as a rule are much desired, as is shown in the following tale :
* There was once a hunter, who could not procure any game for
^ Op. cit., p. 101. 2 jbi(j 3 Op. cit., p. 105.
* Ibid. ^ Ibid. "^ Op. cit., p. 106. ' Op. cit, p. 105.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH 133
a long time. lie ami his wife and a suckling biibe were starving. When the husband became so exhausted that he could not leave the tent, the woman killed the child and began to feed the husband at her breast, while she herself fed on berries. When the husband reproached the wife for killing their child, she replied : "' If you had died of hunger, I and the child would have died too, but now, if I restore you to health again, we shall have other children." This satisfied the husband. He was soon on his feet again, began to procure food, and finally had other children.' '
III. The Chukchee.
The Chukchee are one of the most prolific tribes in north-eastern Asia, the census of 1897 showing that many families have five, seven, or even nine children alive.^ 'The Chukchee women are delivered with little trouble. Custom strictly for])ids the woman to groan, or to give way to the pain by any audible sign. Nor may help be given by other women. The woman who has been delivered has to attend to her own needs herself, and to those of the new-born infant. She cuts the navel-string and puts away the placenta. The woman who accepts help in these operations will be mocked her whole life long, and even her husband will occasionally receive the nick-name "the helped one ". Accordingly a large pelvis, because it eases delivery, is considered one of the chief features of womanly beauty.'^ The couple begin to keep certain taboos as soon as the wife knows she is with child ; one of them being that each morning the two get out of bed together, dress as hastily as possil>le and go out to look at the rising dawn, after which they walk round the tent in the direction of the sun's path. The infant's garments are prepared in secret, and when mentioned are called by a special name. Relations between husband and wife do not cease until the last moment, and are then interrupted for ten days, unless the child dies, when they are resumed before tliis period has elapsed, as this is supposed to be conducive to another conception.^
During the time of labour no stranger, especially of the male sex, may enter the inner room. ' It is feared that some evil but invisible influence will cling to them and try to approach the
' Op. cit., p. 106.
•^ Bogoras, The Chukchee, .J. N.P.E., vol. vii, 1909, p. 36. ^ Ibid.
* Bogoras, The Chukchee, 1907, p. 509.
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lying-in woman.' ^ During the actual birth everybody must go away, even the female members of the family, except one old woman, who, in case of absolute necessity, may render her assistance. If no one else is there the patient is assisted by her husband. Captain Charles HalP mentions the fact that, similarly among the American Eskimo, the husband is not allowed to stay with his wife, and onl}' one old woman may remain. After the birth the miother cuts the navel-cord with a sharj) stone ' skin-scraper ', which will serve her for this purpose all her life, and which she keeps in her clothes-bag. The mother is fed frequently and abundantly for two weeks. Among the Keindeer Chukchee, a young doe is killed for the purpose and much broth is made." After delivery the woman is tightly bound round the hips with a cord, which must remain thus for three days in order to bring her bones back into position. On the fifth day the ceremony of blood-painting is performed, before which no person from outside may enter the house. Even the father of the child has to subject himself to certain incantations before he can enter. This prohibition is repeated when the child is ill, or in the case of an infectious disease, and at such times nothing from the house ma}^ be given away. Bogoras himself was forbidden several times to enter a house for this reason.
The woman also may not leave the tent before the performance of this blood-painting ceremony, as she may thus bring on a violent snowstorm. ' The after-birth is placed on the ground in the corner of the tent, three small sticks are tied together in imitation of the three principal poles of the tent-frame, and are set over the after- birth ; when the camp is left, a piece of leather is Avrapped around them to represent the tent-cover. The Maritime Chukchee and the Koryak place the after-birth and its small tent outside the house in the open country.'*
The blood-painting ceremony begins with the conveyance of the mother and child and the reindeer on the family sledge to the sacrificial place behind the tent. The reindeer is slaughtered, and with its blood the faces of the mother, child, and other members of the family are smeared.^ After this comes the name-giving ceremony. The mother holds a divinatory object (either a stone or some part of her own or the child's dress) suspended before her,
^ Bogoras, Tlie Chidrhee, 1907, p. 509.
^ Life with the Esqiiitnaii.r, part ii, p. 303.
^ Bogoras, op. cit, p. 510. * Op. cit., p. 511. ^ Ibid.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH BIETH 135
and recites the names of the fiuiiily ancestors. At the mention of the name which the chiki is to bear, the divinatory object loses its balance. Sometimes the name is chosen from indications received in dreams. Or the mother may name the child from the first o1)- ject she comes across after the delivery, but even then it is usually the name of an ancestor.^ Sometimes the name is changed one or more times if the child does not thrive, but it is only a shaman or ' knowing person ' who can perform the necessary ceremony.'^
Many protective incantations are pronounced during the child's early years, and are generally accompanied by the tying of neck- laces or pictures of ' guardians ' to the child's garments. This is especially advisable when the first child has not survived, and in case he has left traces for the second one to follow. The period chosen is that of the new moon, but in the daytime, and Bogoras gives us the following description of this curious ceremony: 'A small fire is built u]) before the entrance, and a number of plates laden with various meats, cooked or dried, are placed on both sides of it. The performer gives each of the parents a small piece of red stone wrapped in leather formed into a necklace. Then he pronounces an incantation, of which the following may serve as a fair specimen : —
' You are not on this earth, you are witJiin this stone. No ivind may reach you ; no icehery may crush you, hut it tvill hreaJc in pieces against the edges of tJie stone. You are not on this earth. In the open ocean there lies a hig sea-animal horn at the same time tvith the earth and the world. This animal is a sea-lion. Its hach is like an island, it is covered with earth and stones. You are on its haclc.'^
If the woman dies in child-birth the infant is usually smothered and buried with the mother, but sometimes the people try to rear the child.^
^ Similar methods of naming children are in use among the Asiatic Eskimo. (Bogoras, ibid.)
2 Op. cit., p. 512. 3 Op. cit, p. 513.
?• Among the Asiatic Eskimo 'a child born prematurely is put into the soft skin of a big sea-bird. This skin, taken off whole and turned, has the feathers inside. Then it is tied up very securely, and hung over a big lamp in which a small flame is kept constantly burning. In this position the babe is kept from a week to four weeks, during which time it is fed with small quantities of oil as well as with mother's milk drawn from her breasts. Little by little the portion of milk is increased, and at last the babe is allowed to suckle.' (Bogoras, op. cit., p. 514.)
136 SOCIOLOGY
IV. The Kokyak.
* The Koryak tribe,' as Jochelson says, ' taken as a whole, is at present, after the Chukchee, the healthiest of all the tribes of eastern Siberia. ' ^
Mortality among infants up to the age of one year is, however, enormous. The Koryak believe that the souls of children are timid and therefore more subject to attacks from evil spirits, hence they are placed under the special protection of the good spirits of the household.
The soul {ui/icif) of some ancestor is sent by the Supreme Being into the child in the mother's womb. These souls are hanging on the cross-beams of the house of the Supreme Being. The duration of the life of the person who will reincarnate the soul is indicated by the length of the strap which is attached to the soul's neck or to its thumb. When the child is born the father gives him the name of the ancestor whose soul has entered him. This is done in the following way : * The father of the new-born uses a divining- stone called "Little-Grandmother" {An-apel) to discover whose soul has entered the child. The divining-stone is hung by a string to a stick, the latter is lifted and the stone begins to swing ; or it is hung from a tripod made of small sticks. The father of the child enumerates the names of the deceased relatives on his and his wife's side. When the name of the relative whose soul has entered the child is mentioned, the divining-stone begins to swing more quickly. Another way of determining the identity of the soul is by observation of the behaviour of the child itself. A number of names are mentioned. If the child cries when a name is pro- nounced it shows that it is not the name of the soul reborn in the child. When the proper name is pronounced the child stops crying, or begins to smile. After the name has been given, the father takes the child in his arms, carries it out from the sleeping-tent into the house, and says to his people : "A relative has come " {Qaitumnin ycti). On one occasion, during our stay in the village of Kamenskoye, a child was named after the deceased father-in-law of Yulta's son. The latter lifted the child and said to the mother : ^ " Here, thy father has come." ' Sometimes if the child does not thrive it is taken as a sign that the wrong name was
^ Jochelson, Tlie Kunjuk, J. N. V. E., 1908, p. 415, 2 Op. cit., p. 413. ^ Op. cit., p. 100.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH 137
given to it, ami with special divination ceremonies the name is changed.
Jochelson was never present at a confinement, but he gives us a description of taboos observed, as he was informed, by the people. The woman is regarded as unclean for a month after confinement, she must not remove her shoes in a strange house nor in her own house in the presence of strangers, and during the whole year she must observe certain food taboos. She is forbidden to eat whale-meat during the autumn, but may do so in the winter ; neither can she eat the flesh of the ringed seal, white whale, fresh fish, nor of the raw thong-seal, though this latter she may eat if it is caught in the river and boiled. These taboos are chiefly in connexion with sea-animals, which are one main source of sustenance, for, on the other hand, she may eat reindeer-meat in any form. A newly-born child must not be taken out of the house all the winter. In cases of necessity the mother must keep it in her arms under her coat and must not take it out in a strange house. The after-birth is placed in a bag and hung on a pole at some distance from the village.^
V. The Gilyak.
According to Schrenck,^ the Gilyak woman ' never dares ' to give bii-th to a child at home ; she must, in spite of severity of season or stormy weather, go out of the hut for this purpose. In late autumn or in winter they build a special hut for the woman, but a very uncomfortable one, so that the mother and the child suffer the cold and feel the wind. He himself witnessed this custom in 1885 in the village of Kuik.
To help the woman in labour they carve a wooden figure in the act of delivery, and to it they sacrifice different foods, trying by this means to placate the evil influences which are at work."'
Access to the hut where the w^oman is being confined is only free to the midwife or other women who may be helping her. To cut the umbilical cord they use special knives called kysmrh or Tcyssk dyalclco. The child receives its name at once, or very soon after birth, either in the evening of the same day or in the morning following the night when the child is born. ' This ', says Schrenck, 'is not followed by any ceremonies, the father or any
> Op. cit., p. 101.
^ The Natives of the Anmr Country, 1903, vol. iii, p. 11.
=> Op. cit., p. 12.
138 SOCIOLOGY
other Gilyak announces the name.'^ No .shaman is present either at the birth or at the giving of the name. Only wealthy people have a feast on this occasion, to which they invite all their friends.-
The woman returns to the house on the eighth or tAvelfth day after her confinement, but no purificatory ceremonies were observed by Schrenck.
Dr. Seeland ^ says that the custom of driving the woman out of the house before the delivery recalls another custom, that of carrying dying people out of the house ; both practices show that the Gilyak are afraid of the dead body in the house, and a woman in confinement is in grave danger of death.
Schrenck himself, however, never saw this custom of carrying a very sick person out of the house (except the woman at delivery), and he even d( ubts whether Gilyak always leave or destroy the house where a death has occurred.^
A woman who wishes to have a child carries various amulets round her neck, such as a dog's tooth, &c. Generally, says Schrenck, ' there are many superstitious customs in order to assure to a woman a happy delivery.'^
NEO-SIBERIAWS. VI. The Buryat.
Among the Buryat of Alarsk (Government of Irkutsk), during the delivery the women of the familj^ are gathered near the mother and take the child in order to drop it in a horizontal position on to the floor, which has been made soft and easy for it, after which it is washed and wrapped up. Two or three days later a feast is held to which all the villagers come," without waiting for an invitation. The parents slaughter a ram, a cow, or an ox, according to theii- wealth. Then the ceremony of WTapping up the child begins. One of the young boys or girls present is chosen to reply to the questions put by a temporary ' mother ', who holds in her hands an arrow and a bone with some flesh on it, from the right haunch of an animal. She asks the chosen child : * Whom have I to wrap up ? the newly-born one or the bone?' To which the reply comes. 'The newly-born.' 'With the head up or down?' 'Up,' is the answer. These
1 Op. cit., p. 13. = Ibid. ^ Die GhiUakett, 1882, p. 129.
* Schrenck, op. cit., p. 11. ^ Op. cit., p. 12.
•^ Potanin, Sketches of 2^'.W. Mongolia, vol. iv, pp. 26-7.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH 139
questions and answers are repeated three times ; then a name is given to the child. The feast ends with the making of a iire in the place where the birth occurred ; the guests, including the father, surround the fire, and from their mouths they squirt into it a liquid called salamafa, which has been prepared from meal and oil, and all in one voice exclaim: 'Give more happiness! Give a son ! ' This is repeated three times. General excitement prevails, and they vie with each other in smearing their friends' faces and clothes with oil, ashes, and fresh animal excrement.
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MARRIAGE 123
XI. Tin: Samuyep.
In the time of Pallas' (eiul of the eighteenth century) the marriage customs of the Samoyed were as follows :
'When a Samojede (Samoyed) wants a wife, he looks for one in some other family than his own. He never cares for beautj^ but chooses one equal to himself in rank and propert}'. Having appointed a negotiator of the business from among his own friends, whom it is customary* to leward with a reindeer for his trouble — with this man and his relations he goes to the habitation of the girl's father, and being arrived, no one presumes to enter the hut, but ranging all their sledges in a row. each man sitting on his own. while the negotiator waits upon the father of the young woman and inquires whether the young man can have her. If the father refuses, which is but seldom the case, he gives the negotiator a basket, which is the token of refusal, and nothing more is said, the whole suite returning as they came. But if the father accepts the proposal, the negotiator settles the Icahim, or price to be paid, which is attended with more difficulty than among the Eastjaiks (Ostyak). for such is the covetousness of the father that he will keep the whole train a long time on their sledges, that he may get as much for his daughter as he can.'
F. G. Jackson, a recent traveller among these people, says that the matchmaker takes a gift (e.g. a good fox-skin) from the suitor to the chum of the girl's father. On his second visit the nego- tiator brings with him a stick marked with as many notches as the suitor proposes to give deer. If the price is accepted, the stick is broken in two. each party retaining one half. ' After this there is nothing left but the round of gluttonous enjoyment of raw flesh and bibulous dissipation in blood which accompanies their marriage festivities.'- Jackson adds that among the Yurak Samoyed the suitor accompanies the matchmaker, and during the negotiations cooked meat and vodka are consumed. Waiting for the final settlement, the suitor sits outside in his sledge, while the deer he has perhaps i)resented is being consumed. The match- maker, however, mindful of his client, brings him out some of the meat.
^ S. Pallas, Travels through Siberia and Taiiary, part iii. (vol. iv of Trusler's The Ifabltahle World Described, London, 1788), p. 12.
^ Notes on the Samoyed of the Great Tundra, collected from the journals of F. G. Jackson by A. Montefiore, Journal of the Anthroj). Institute, vol. xxiv, Aug. 1894-May 1895.
124 SOCIOLOGY
Tlie Jiuli/m generally consists of a variety of clothes, household necessaries, reindeer, and small articles purchased from the Russians. The father, indeed, can keep but part of this Jcalijm to himself, it being usual to give some of it to his relations.
'As soon as the youth has paid the kah/m, the father-in-law loads him and his company with I'eindeer meat, and during the feast the young man and the bride's father sing to each otlier, the father advising in his song the son to love his wife, and the son recommending himself as well as he can to his new father. It is then settled when the bride's portion is to be paid, and when the bride shall be ready to give her hand. For a father always gives w^ith his daughter in marriage a certain quantity of clothes.''
Islavin^ and Schrenck '' say that the Samoyed bride of the present day receives as her dowry a chum (tent), some reindeer, sledges, harness, clothes, and meat, altogether amounting in value to that of the Icalipn.
* On the day appointed, the bridegroom waits on his bride with a number of strange women to fetch her. On this occasion small presents are demanded from those relations that share the IcaJipn. The bride is then forcibly placed on a sledge by these women, tied on, and all the sledges with the presents and gifts (the first three or four of which the father must cover with good cloth, and the rest with reindeer skins) then set otf — the bride's sledge first and all the rest following — and return to the young man's hut, where it is the business of the bride to make his bed, in which she sleeps by her husband, but undisturbed for the first month. Both Eastjaiks (Ostyak) and Samojedes (Samoyed) make the bride's mother a present, if it turns out that her daughter, when married, was a virgin.
' Some time after marriage the young wife pays a visit to her father, and stays with him a few weeks, during which time she has the liberty to receive her husband. At their taking leave, the father must make her a number of presents, and do the same at every visit ; so that the young woman for a length of time shall have no occasion to apply to her husband for anything. In cases of divorce the Jcalt/m is returned. Should the woman die soon after
^ Pallas, op. cit.. p. 13.
^ The Samoyed, their Home and Social Life, 1847, p. 128. ^ A. G. Schrenck, Reise nach dem Nordosten des Europdischen liusdand, p. 476.
MARRIAGE 125
Iier marriage, the wi^lower claims a return uf the htlf/itt, if respect to tlie deceased does not prevent it.'^
Maksimoff, basing his observations on the researches of Ishivin, says that thougli the bridegroom himself brings the hili/m to the house of his future fatlior-in-la\v, he does not remain there as a guest, but erects his own chum near by. First, a feast is held in the chum of the father-in-law ; then they pass to the bridegroom's chum, and thitlier bring the bride. The young couple sit side by side, and the bridegroom feeds her with meat and wine. This is held to be the essential symbol of the consummation of the marriage. The feast over, the guests depart, leaving the married pair alone. After midnight, the bridegroom is expected to leave the chum unobserved, harness his reindeer, and set out for home. The bride does not go to her husband's home until some time has elapsed. When she arrives certain ceremonies are held whicli symbolize the capture of the bride. -
None of these authors makes any mention of a custom of avoid- ance among the Samoyed.
F. G. Jackson,^ from whose ' Notes ' quotation was made above, found that polygamy was 'not in disfavour' among the Samoyed, though it was rare to find a Samoyed with more than two wives. The kali/m, he says, with which a wife is purchased amounts sometimes to one hundred reindeer. This Jcali/m is recoverable, and the wife is returned to her parents, if the husband finds her unfaithful, or has other good grounds for dissatisfaction during the first year of marriage. He also states that a Samoyed will some- times sell his wife for a few teams of reindeer, or barter her for another man's wife.
XII. The Finnic Tribes. The Ostyak.
Pallas's * account of the marriage customs of the Ostyak refers to these people in general, but especially to those settled on the Ob near Beresowa at the time of his journey, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. His observations follow :
' The Eastjaiks (Ostyak), especially beyond Beresowa, who still adhere to Paganism, take as many wives as they can afford. They
^ Pallas, op. cit., p. 13. ^ Maksimoff, op. cit., p. 70.
' Jackson, op. cit.
* S. Pallas, Travels through Siberia and Taiianj, part i (vol. iii of Trusler's HahltahJe World Described, Lonaon, 1788), p. 302.
126 SOCIOLOGY
are fond of marrying sisters of other families; and believe^ that a man's marrying with a wife's sister brings good hick, and by doing this they pay the father only half the i>rice, or lali/)n, first paid. They hold it sinful and disgraceful to marry relations of the same name ; yet they attend only to the male line. If a woman has married into another family, and has borne a daughter, the brother of the mother, or his children, may legally marry that daughter. In short, all marriages are legal, if only the fathers of the bride and bridegi'oom respectively are of different families.
* When an Eastjaik (Ostyak) goes a-courting, he chooses from among his nearest relations and friends some companions of his own age, and one to be the negotiator ; goes with them to his sweetheart's dwelling, and enters the hut without ceremony. A father who has a marriageable daughter, seeing such a company arrive, readily guesses the reason ; therefore makes no question, but treats them with what his tent will afford. When the guests have filled their bellies they retire to another tent, and from thence the bridegroom sends his suitor with the proposals, and inquires the Icalijm, or price to be paid. The negotiation being entered into, the poor suitor runs to and fro, from one tent to the other, to settle matters between the two, till the agreement is concluded. Then the bridegroom goes himself and pays part of the Jcali/m, the whole being seldom paid at once, it being pro- portioned to the fortune the father gives with his daughter.^ A rich Ostyak girl is not married without a gift of one hundred reindeer and an assortment of all kinds of furs. The first instal- ment being paid, the bridegroom directs the father to have a bed prepared for him in his hut, and to have his daughter ready. If the father-in-law agrees to this and accepts the first payment, the bridegroom comes that night, and lies on the bed, or spot, ap- pointed for him. Some time after, the bride lies down near him, on a separate bench, and covered with a i:)articular fur, till the fires are put out, Next morning the girl's mother inquires of the bridegroom whether he is satisfied with her daughter. If he replies in the affirmative, he must present the mother with a garment and a reindeer ; and the mother then cuts the reindeer- skin on which tlie young couple lay into pieces, and spreads it around in triumph ; but should the bridegroom be dissatisfied,
1 Op. cit., p. 303. - Op. cit.. p. 304.
MARRIAGE 127
the mother gives him a iviiuleor. The bridegroom, utter this, sleeps with his bride, but cannot take her home till the whole of the kalipn, or purchase-money, is paid.'
When a bridegroom visits his bride before the lahjm is fully paid, says G. Novicki,^ he must observe a certain custom of avoidance with regard to his father-in-law. Should he meet him by accident the bridegroom must turn his back or cover his face ; and he must make his way as quickly as possible to his bride, and as (^uickl}' return from her.
'Sometimes', continues Pallas,- 'it will happen that, when the father is weak or ill and cannot follow, the husband shall take away his wife, before the sum agreed on is paid ; in such cases, the father takes the opportunity, at some future time, when his daughter comes to pay him a visit, to detain her, and force the husband to pay what is owing.'
The woman's dowry, according to Patkanoff,-' is provided, strangely enough, from the Jcahjm which has been paid for her, and consists of garments, bedding, &c.
To return to Pallas's account ^ : ' No married Avoman can appear before her father-in-law whilst she lives ; nor the bridegroom before his mother-in-law until he has children. They must avoid them as much as possible ; and if they chance to meet them must turn their backs and cover their faces. '^ Girls in Eastjaik (Ostyak) families have no names ; the husband therefore calls his consort " wife " {jemi) ; and the woman calls her husband " man " [tahe).
'Though the uncivilized Eastjaik (Ostyak) does not consider his wife but as a necessary domestic animal, and scarcely favours her with a good word for all her hard labour, yet he dares not strike her, even for the greatest crime, unless he has consent of her father ; for, in such a case, the provoked wife would run to her parents and persuade her father to return the hdijin to his son-in- law, and she would marry some other man.
' A Sho)-t DescriptKDi of the Oafi/al- y at ion, pp. 42-3.
2 Pallas, op. cit., p. 304. ^ Die Iiii/.sch-O.stJal-eu, p. 139.
* Pallas, op. cit., p. 305.
° More recent accounts than that of Pallas state that for several days following the wedding the young couple must not so much avoid as take care to cover their faces if they should meet their respective parents- in-law. The woman, however, has to cover her face before her father-in- law, or other male connexions on that side, during the whole of her married life. (S. Patkanoff, Die Iiiysch-Ostjaken, vol. i, p. 139. See also A. T. Dmitrieff-Mamonoffand K. M. Golodnikoff, Note-hook of the Tobolsk Goi-eniment, 1S84, pp. 19-20. _)
128 SOCIOLOGY
' These people kno^v little about jealousy.'
Among tiie Ostyak of Yenisei the young coui)le live with the husband's father-in-law for about a month after the wedding, and only then does the husband take his wife home.'
The custom of avoidance is binding upon the bride as well as her brothers-in-law. There are also certain restrictions governing the relations ))etween a girl and her brothers. After she has reached the age of thirteen she may not eat with them or talk to them.'"^
' A. Mordvinoff, The Natives of the Tunil-haush Countn/, I. R. G. S., 1860, p. 43.
2 Tretyakoff, The Coitntnj of I'linikhaiid; 1871, pp. 388-91.
CHAPTER V CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH
PALEO-SIBERIANS. I. The Kamchadal.
The most reliable information concerning the Kamchadal is still that imparted by Krasheninnikoif, although it dates from the end of the eighteenth century. He says they are not a prolific people, and he had never heard of a woman who had had eight or nine children. Except in rare cases, the w^omen have easy delivery at child-birth. ' The shamanesses attribute the cause of difficult labour to the father, who must have built sledges or bent wood while the child was being born.'^
A woman gave birth to her child kneeling and in the presence of all the villagers without regard either to sex or age. The new- born child was wiped with, and wrapped in, a grass called touchitch ; a stone knife was used to cut the umbilical cord, and the placenta was thrown to the dogs. Then all the inhabitants of the camp rejoiced in the infant, nursing and fondling it, but no further ceremonies were remarked by Krasheninnikoff.^ An old woman assisted at the accouchement, but she was not a professional mid- wife ; any one, often the mother of the woman concerned, per- formed this office. A woman who wished to become pregnant had to eat spiders ; some of them also for this purpose would eat the umbilical cord together with a grass called kiprei. On the other hand, if a child was not desired, there was a widespread custom of causing abortion by shock or by killing the child in the womb. Old women specialists in these matters were found, but they frequently caused the death of the mother. If the un desired infant did not die before birth, the mother strangled it or gave it, living, to the dogs to eat. In order to induce sterility, a drink made from a grass called JconlaJchion was taken. ^
' KrasheninnikofF, Descrixttion of the Coiinti-y of Kamchatka, 1819, p. 171. In this statement Krasheninnikotf again mentions only female shamans in accordance with his general theory.
2 Op. cit., p. 172. ' 3 Op. cit., pp. 172-3.
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The practice of infanticide was also sometimes clue to certain beliefs — for instance, that one of a pair of twins must be killed, and that a child born during a storm must be killed, though in the latter case incantations might avert the evil. After the delivery the mother was fed with soup called opnna, made from fish and a plant called hale, and after a few days she was at work again.
The father gave to the child the name of one of his ancestors, but, according to Krasheninnikoff, without ceremonies. Among the men's names mentioned by this author are Kemleia — * never- die'; Chihouika—* spider ' ; Biroutch — 'he who was burned alive ' ; Kene — ' mischievous spirit '.^
II. The Yukaghie.
All the cases of child-birth which Jochelson'^ observed among the Yukaghir and Yakut were very difficult, and the barbarous practices attendant upon them produce nervous diseases and pre- mature age in the mothers.
The foundation of these practices is the belief that difficult labour and unfortunate birth are caused by the entrance of an evil spirit into the woman (supernatural cause) ^ ; this is the case also among some Turkic and Mongolic tribes. At the same time the Yukaghir also attribute difficult labours to a ' natural ' cause — ? either to the failure of the mother to observe certain taboos or to the ill-will of the child itself ; they therefore do not allow two pregnant women to inhabit the same house in case the two unborn children should communicate and decide which mother should die."*^ This does not prevent the co-existence of a further belief, that is, that before the birth the spirit of an ancestor enters the child in the womb. Not only is successful labour dependent on the behaviour of the mother and child, but in some cases the presence of the father is necessary in order to * loosen that which he fastened '.^ The midwife asks the sick woman, married or unmarried, ' Who was the cause of your pregnancy ? ' Jochelson was present when the husband of a woman who was suffering terribly placed his arm about her abdomen, and thereupon she gave easy birth to the child ; though some of those present knew
' Ibid.
"^ W. Jochelson, Tlte Yuka(/hir atid the Yul-righirized Tungus, J.N. P. E., vol. ix, 1910, p. 96.
3 Ibid. " Op. cit., p. 97. ^ Op. cit., p. 98.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH 131
that he was not the real father, the general feeling was that this showed that she had spoken the ti'uth in naming him as the father of her child. ^
The taboos connected with birth affect not only the mother but also her husband and the rest of the household. Some of these taboos are : the pregnant woman must not eat the fat of the cow or reindeer, or larch-gum, because all these things are believed to thicken or ' freeze ' in the stomach, and to fasten the child to the inside of the womb ; but butter of the cow or horse's fat may be eaten, for it will melt in the stomach.-
A pregnant woman must be active and energetic so that the child also shall have these qualities and issue easily and quickly from the mother. '•
She ought in walking to raise her feet high, and on finding stones or lumps of earth in her path she should kick them away, symbolizing the removal of obstructions at child-birth. After setting out for a certain place she must on no account turn back before she has reached it, otherwise the delivery will be checked in the middle.
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The taking of the pipe is a sign of acceptance of the offer ; but the compact is not immediately concluded, for the father may sny that he must consult with his family upon the matter, or the question of kaJi/m hivs still to be settled. After this only is the pipe of peace and acceptance smoked. Then the other match- makei-s. preserving always a solemn mien, bring Jcumi/s and wine, which they drink together. After this the matchmakers return to the suitor, and inform him of their success, and of the amount of the kali/m ; whereupon a second feast is held. When everything is ready, two young men, friends of the bridegroom, arrive at the bride's >/urta, each holding a rod of birch. Between these a sort of screen^ is stretched. The bride mounts a horse, which has been prepared for her. and the two men ride at her side, holding the screen before her, until they ari'ive at the house of the groom. During the journey she ought not to see either the path or the new yurtu, until she enters it. She is followed by a long train.-
Before the girl leaves her own yiirta, a ceremony of ' blessing the bride ' {algysli-sez) is held there. Her parents give her their blessing, with instructions as to her behaviour in her new home, and then seven old men appear, who bestow their blessing upon her in poetic diction. During this ceremony a bright fire is burning, before which she must bow. When she reaches the yiirta of the groom she must bow before his hearth-fire too, and place in it a piece of meat and some butter.''
Potanin,^ in describing the marriage ceremony among the Teleut of the Kuznietsk and Biisk districts, says that at the
presents and pronounce these words : ' May your tongue utter no more such words as it did before, and may your mind return to its former kindly thoughts.' (Priklonski, Three Yiars in the Yukufsk Terriiunj, 1^91, p. 54.) ' This screen is CAWad kosh'ugo.
* This must be regarded as a symbolic survival of original marriage by capture.
^ Op. cit., pp. Sl-4.
* Potanin, Hkelches of yorth- Western Monfjoli'f, 1883, vol. iv, p. G27.
I 2
116 SOCIOLOGY
niiirriage festiv.-il there is a custom called ail-huzar (' destroying the liouse'). First they remove the door of tlie i/xrta, and through the doorway a relative of the bride, richly dressed and mounted on a richly caj^arisoned horse, tries to ride out of the house. The opening being small, he attempts to enlarge it by breaking away portions of the neighbouring walls. The occupants of the ijuiia do everything they can to prevent the man's escape. They cling to his stirrup, to his dress, and to the trappings of his horse. Whatever is torn away from him in the struggle is presented to the bride, and is called ' the bride's luck '.
According to the custom of the northern Altaians,^ the bride- groom is supposed to capture the bride. As a matter of fact, the girl has been apprised beforehand of his intention, the matter is settled with her, and she gives to the young man's envoy a ker- chief from her head as an earnest of the fulfilment of her part of the compact. Then the bridegroom comes with one or two friends on good horses, and carries her off at night. They take her to the ulus of the groom,- and in the morning the young men begin to build an odalch for the couple. This is composed of nine poles of birch, each about ten metres in length, planted in the ground so as to come together to a point at the top, where some leaves are left so as to give the appearance of a broom at the summit of the framework of the yurta. The walls are formed of birch-bark. The bridegroom on entering the new abode must kindle a new fire with his flint and steel, for no coals can be l)rought into the yurta from any other fire for the purpose. From the manner in which the sparks fly the future life of the young couple is augured.
While her husband is tending the fire the bride offers to each of the builders of the odaJ;h a copper ring ; for she has been collecting rings for this purpose since her childhood, and has sometimes got together as many as a hundred. The oclalh, or green yurta, stands for three days, and during all this time the young couple must not leave it. After three days the odalh is pulled down, and the birch-poles are taken away into the forest, where they remain until they rot. Nobody may borrow fire from the odalJi.
The feasts held on the occasion of a marriage are known as hai/ga. The first is given by the bridegroom, and is held around
^ Wierbicki, op. cit.
- This is an imlication that marriage among these people is exogamic.
MARRIAGE 117
the odaJili, but the four following ones are given ;it the home of the bride.
Five or ten days after the 'capture' of the bride, the groom, with some of his relatives and a considerable food-supply, comes to the father-in-law to make peace and agree upon the amount of the Mlifm he must pay for the bride he has carried oif. A rich son-in-law pays his lail/im at once, a poor one in instalments covering several years.
Sometimes the bride's parents give the whole hiliim as a dowry to their daughter, and even make it larger by adding presents from themselves.
To enable the bridegroom to pay the Irili/m, his bachelor friends help him by making each a small offering from his store. But the larger the Jcal/pn, the worse is the position of a woman in her widowhood. Her father-in-law treats her as projierty bought for much money, and if she wishes to marry again, he demands from the suitor as large a JaJ//m as the deceased husband formerly paid for her. Sometimes the widow marries her brother-in-law.
Marriages are usualh^ celebrated in spring. The first hai/r/d is not held until the voice of the cuckoo is heard, even if a marriage takes place before that time.
One month after the marriage the ' tobacco haijga ' is held, at which the relatives of the bridegroom make presents of tobacco to the bride's relations.
The third, or ' meat 6a^<7a ', takes place, among the rich, after the harvest ; among those not so wealthy, it is not held until from one to two years after the wedding. The poorest class celebrate this feast whenever they can ajfford it.
At the last ha//f/a a horse is killed and eaten. Each hayga is accom- panied by dances, games, &c.^
Marriage is exogamic among all the Altaians ; and a wife has to observe various prohi])itions with regard to her father-in-law. She must not show him her head or feet, or give him any object with her hands. The father-in-law has to avoid her also, never make any jokes in her presence, and run away when she does her hair.'^ Among the Teleut the custom of avoidance holds also with the relatives of the bridegroom.
^ Op. cit., p. 85.
"^ Radloff, Aus Sibirien, p. 314. See also T. Shvetzoff, Ideas of the Altaiaus and Kirgis on Custom and Law, W. S. S. I. R. G. S., \y. 9.
118 SOCIOLOGY
X. Thk Mongolic Tribes. A. The Buryat.
It is usually the i)arents who arrange marriages among the Buryat, betrothing their children in infancy. There is also a custom of interchange of children, by which one family will exchange a daughter for the daughter of another faniilj\ In this case, as soon as a girl reaches marriageable age, the parents make a final compact called l(hal, and fix the day for her wedding to a son of the fiimily into which she comes by exchange. If a family contains only sons, they must acquire daughters-in-law by the l>ayment of I'ali/m, which consists of cattle and mali/Jih, i. e. calves still unborn.^
Buryat girls receive as dowry, clothes, household utensils, a riding-horse with full equipment, and ii i/urta.'-
Potanin'' states that a father not only bestows on his daughter at her marriage a dowry consisting of cattle, household utensils, iKc, but makes similar gifts to his son-in-law, so that the value of the dowry together with these other gifts offsets that of the ka1/jm.
Sometimes betrothal takes place between adults.
The Buryat are exogamous, and a symbolical representation of the capture of the wife is the essential feature of the wedding ceremony. On the day when the bride is to be taken to the bridegroom, friends and relatives assemble at her parents' house. But the bride hides herself within a ring which her girl friends form around her, holding hands, and strengthening the chain with their kerchiefs. When men try to break through the ring, the girls do their best to prevent them, weeping and shouting aloud.
During this time preparations are being made in the bride- groom's house for the arrival of the bridal party. First a birch is planted in front of the ijiirta as a symbol of the hoped-for growth and development of the new family, and on this tree are hung fur coats and ongons. As the party conducting the bride approach her new home, they send forward a group of riders called furusJii, one of whom holds in his hand an arrow barbed with iron, and with a bit of white cloth, called Icudylc, at the other end. This turusJii,
^ Samokvasoff, Code of Law among the Aborif/ines of Siberia, 1876, pp. 74-5.
- M. Khangaloff, 'Customary Law among the Buryat,' E. R., 1894, p. 138.
^ Potanin, Sketches of Xorth-Western Mongolia, 1883, vol. iv, p. 36.
MARRIAGE 119
on comina: near, dismounts, leaving his horse to be lieUl by some of his companions, runs into the jiurta without greeting any one, and sticks the arrow in the west tcnge, or partition which shuts oK the fomily sleeping-place from the fire, so that the arrow points westward. Then he occupies the place usually given to the most honoured guest, roughly turning out the occupant, if tliere happens to be one, even if he should be a person held in the greatest honour ; and then only does the turuslii greet the match- maker. The bridegroom's friends and relatives now go to meet the approaching bridal train, and the feast is begun there in the road ; then a feast is held in the house of the bridegroom's parents, and another in that of the matchmaker. The bride, with her mother and some other women, is taken into a special i/urfa of the matchmaker. After the feast two shamans perform certain ceremonies, one shaman in the i/urfa where the bride is, and the other in that where the bridegroom is for the time being. In their performance they mention certain spirits, first Bukha-Nolna, and at the end, Bodon-Khatun. Then the bride is dressed in the costume of a married woman, and various ornaments are put upon her. Her fiice is covered with a veil, in which are holes for the mouth and eyes. She is then taken out of the yurta, has to bow to the newly-planted birch, and is led round the yurta where are the bridegroom and his friends, while the matchmaker cries aloud, * Give us the man who is under sentence ! ' The bridegroom is thus summoned thrice, but only appears at the third call, this being hLs first appearance during the whole of the proceedings. The matchmaker puts into his right hand one end of the handker- chief, giving the other end to the bride. Thus the marriage is concluded. Now an old mail, not a shaman, makes a speech for their benefit, and gives them a blessing. The bridegroom enters the yurta to put some grease in the fire ; and when the bride and her party follow him in, grains of corn are thrown upon their heads.
After the feast the bride goes into the bridegroom's yurta, and then at last the veil is removed from her head.
Before parting the two families exchange presents ; and the bride returns to her parents' home, where she remains for some time longer.
Langans ^ says that after the wedding a wife remains with her
' Tlie Buryat, 1824, vol. i, p. 59.
120 SOCIOLOGY
liusl)and for a month ; then he lets lier go for six months to her parents, and (hiring- this time is not allowed to visit her. Khan- galoff,^ a recent investigator, says that nowadays the wife does not come to live with her husband until several months have passed after the wedding, which is held in his house. Potanin states similarly that after the wedding-feast the wife leaves her husband with the guests, and goes for six months to her parents. Then she spends one month with her husband, and returns again to her parents, after which follows another visit to her new home. The visits to her husband become more and more frecpient, until at last she settles down with him for life.- From the myths which relate to marriage reform, under which the husband came to live with his wife, as well as from accounts of marriage customs such as those given above, Maksimolf ' rightly concludes that in former times the husband always went to live in the home of his wife's parents.
The bride has to observe the following restrictions : (i) she must never address her father-in-law or mother-in-law by name ; (ii) all relatives of her husband older than he, and her father-in- law as well, she must call Jchadam ; (iii) in the presence of a Jchadam she must never be without her cap and face-covering ; (iv) she must not remove or change her dress in his presence ; (v) her sleeping-place should be in a separate ywr^a ; (vi) if she meets a Jchadam, she must not cross his path, but pass behind him ; (vii) she must not ride in the same wagon with him, an.d, generally not be close to him.
He, on the other hand, must not dress or undress in her presence, nor sit or lie down on her sleeping-place. He must not utter any indecent language before her ; and before entering the 1/urfa, must make a signal to her of his approach, in order that she may have time to put her dress in order.
These customs of avoidance are known as sorJchoho {sor, sin ; IJiohii, to do)."*
After the death of a husband, the widow passes to his brother or other near relative, or to her father-in-law. If, for some reason, both parties ai"e unwilling, her father, or other near relative,
^ Some Data concerning the Node of Life of the Nor(h-Wcste)-n Buryat, p. 161.
- Potanin, op. cit., p. 36.
' Contribution to the History of the Family amonq the Aborigines of Biissia, 1902, p. 65.
* Khangaloff", 'Customaiy Law among the Buryat,' E. R., 1894, p. 140.
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marries the woman to some one else, and turns over tlie new kalifm to her tii'st husbamls family.
If a husband does not wish to live with his wife, he does not recover the Jcalifin ; and if a wife is unwilling to live with her husband, then her relatives have to return the Jc(il//m to him. If, liowever, she was accjuired throuiih the custom of interchange of daughters, her relatives have to make up a Jcali/in, which is paid to the husband. When the marriage is dissolved by the mutual consent of husl)and and wife, neither party has to restore any l-ali/m, but the wife has tlie right to demand from her husband one riding-horse, with full eouiument, one sumiiier and one winter suit.^
B. The Kalmuk.
'Not having had an opi>ortunity of being present at any of the marriages of the Kalmucks,' - says Pallas,"' ' I can only speak from heai-say. Many betroth their children, not only in their earliest infancy, but in the womb. This (latter) betrothing is, however, sacredly performed, and conditionall)', i. e. provided that such a one has a boy and such a one a girl. The young couple are joined at fourteen years of age, or later. Two years before marriage a bridegroom is allowed to take many little liberties with his bride, but should pregnancy happen before the day of marriage, an atonement is made to the bride's parents, by presents."* Prior to the wedding, the bridegroom agrees with the girl's father as to the portion he is to have with her, which consists in a certain number of horses and cattle ; and the father of the young man, in return, presents the bride with a new white felt tent, some household furniture, bedclothes, and ornamented foot-pillows, covered with cotton or silk, and laced.'
Other authors say that the yurfa and other things which the girl receives are provided from the Jiuli/m which the bridegroom gives for her.^
'The geUunfj is consulted with respect to the day of marriage, and he searches, by astronomical calculations, for a propitious one.
' Samokvasoft", op. cit., p. 75.
^ Pallas calls Kalmuk, the Torgout, Syungorian, and Durbat tribes. (Op. cit, p. 204.)
^ Pallas, Travels through Siheria and Tarlary, part i (vol. iii. of Trusler's Habitable World Described), London, 1788, p. 277.
* Op. cit., p. 278.
' Jytecki, Sketch of the Mode of Life of tlie Kalniuh of Astrakhan, pp. 21-2. See also Tereshchenko, The Ultis of Khoshotsk, 1854, p. 49.
122 SOCIOLOGY
The new tent is then erected ; the hridc, with her parents and rehitions, goes to the bridegroom, who, with the gcUunfj, or priest, accompanies them to the tent, where he reads some few prayers and orders the bride's tresses to be undone and braided in the manner of married women, into two tails. He next takes the caps of the married couple, retires with thorn and his rfadsul outside the tent, smokes them witli frankincense, says a prayer, then returns to the couple, blesses them, gives the caps to some of the j^ersons present to put them on the bride and bridegroom's lieads, and the ceremony concludes with a feast. For a certain time the bride is not permitted to leave her tent, and no one is supposed to see her but her mother and the married women of her acquaintance.
' At the nuptials of princes, great entertainments are given. A large banquet is prepared, and those who carry the eatables to table,^ served up in large wooden vessels, are preceded by a herald or carver riding on a fox-coloured horse, splendidly dressed, having over his shoulders a long tippet of fine white linen, and his hat trimmed with black fox or other fur. On the wedding- day all the priests of the iilus read prayers, and the day is con- cluded with a variety of amusements, as horse-racing, wrestling, shooting with the bow, &c.'
The bride is obliged to keep certain rules of behaviour with regard to her father-in-law and the older male relatives of her husband. She must not sit down while they remain in the yurta. She enters their yurtas only when invited ; on going out she must cross the threshold with her face turned towards the interior of the yiuia. These rules, however, says Jytecki,^ bind not the bride only, but all the younger members of the household. Other rules concern her alone ; e. g. the one that she must not address her husband's parents or other older relatives by their own name, but must invent names herself for them. This custom holds even with regard to the parents' dog.^
Tereshchenko ^ writes that the l)ride throughout her life must not show her bare feet or head to her father-in-law or male relatives older than her husl>and ; and, according to Lepekhin,'^ the bride is not allowed to see these people.
1 Pallas, op. cit., p. 279. = Op. cit., p. 34. ^ Ibid.
< Op. cit., p. 50. ° Dianj of a Jounieij, vol. ii, p. 371.
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