Shamanism in Siberia

Northern Asia, particularly Siberia is regarded as the "locus classicus" of shamanism.Hoppál 2005:13] It is inhabited by many different ethnic groups. Many of its Uralic, Altaic, and Paleosiberian peoples observe shamanistic practices even in modern times. Many classical ethnographic sources of “shamanism” were recorded among Siberian peoples.

These cultures are far from being alike. The same applies for their shamanistic beliefs and practice.Hoppál 2005: 15]

Spirit-Journey

[http://texts.00.gs/Siberian%20Shamanism,_2-SJ.htm Siberian shamans' spirit-journeys] (re-acting their dreams wherein they had rescued the soul of the client) were conducted in, e.g., Oroch, Altai, and Nganasan healing séances.

Songs, music

As mentioned above, shamanistic practice shows great diversity, even if restricted to Siberia. In some cultures, the music or song related to shamanistic practice may intend to mimic natural sounds, sometimes with onomatopoiea. [http://dasa.baua.de/nn_35984/sid_2C8A99B3F31A58C62BBE3312986DC568/nsc_true/de/Presse/Pressematerialien/Sonderausstellung_20Macht_20Musik/Schamanen-Musik.pdf Hoppál 2006: 143] ]

This holds e. g. for shamanism among Sami groups. Although the Sami groups live outside of Siberia, many of their shamanistic beliefs and practice shared important features with those of some Siberian cultures.Voigt 1966: 296] The Yoiks of the Sami were sung on shamanistic rites. [Szomjas-Schiffert 1996: 56, 76] Recently, yoiks are sung in two different styles, one of these are sung only by young people. But the traditional one may be the other, the “mumbling” style, resembling to magic spells. [Szomjas-Schiffert 1996: 64] Several surprising characteristics of yoiks can be explained by comparing the music ideals, as observed in yoiks and contrasted to music ideals of other cultures. Some yoiks intend to mimic natural sounds. This can be contrasted to bel canto, which intends to exploit human speech organs on the highest level to achieve an almost “superhuman” sound. [Szomjas-Schiffert 1996: 74]

The intention to mimic natural sounds is present in some Siberian cultures as well: overtone singing, and also shamanic songs of some cultures can be examples.
* In a Soyot shamanic song, sounds of bird and wolf are imitated to represent helping spirits of the shaman. [Diószegi 1960: 203]
* The seance of Nganasan shamans were accompanied by women imitating the sounds of the reindeer calf, (thought to provide fertility for those women). [Hoppál 2005: 92] In 1931, A. Popov observed the Nganasan shaman Dyukhade Kosterkin imitating the sound of polar bear: the shaman was believed to have transformed into polar bear. [cite web |last=Lintrop |first=Aarno |title=The Clean Tent Rite |work=Studies in Siberian shamanism and religions of the Finno-Ugric peoples |url=http://haldjas.folklore.ee/~aado/tent.htm]

The intention to mimic natural sounds is not restricted to Siberian cultures. And it is not necessarily liked to shamanistic beliefs or practices. See for example katajjaq, a game played by women, an example of music of some Inuit groups. This applies overtone singing, and in some cases, sounds of nature (mostly those of animals, e.g. geese) is imitated. [Nattiez: 5] [ [http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/inuit.htm Deschênes 2002] ] Imitation of animal sounds can serve also such practical reasons like luring game in hunt.Nattiez: 5]

Grouped by linguistic relatedness

Uralic

Uralic languages are proven to form a genalogical unit, a language family. The two main branches of Uralian family are Samoyedic and Finno-Ugric.

Not all Uralic peoples live in Siberia or have shamanistic features any more. Saami people had kept living shamanistic practice for a long time. They live in Europe, they practiced shamanism till cca the 18^th century.Hoppál 2005:84] Most other Finno-Ugric peoples (e.g. Hungarian, Finnic, Mari) have only remnant elements of shamanism.Hoppál 2005:84] Majority of Uralic population lives outside Siberia. Some of them used to live in Siberia, have wandered to their present locations since then. The original location of the Proto-Uralic peoples (and its extent) is debated. Combined phytogeographical and linguistic considerations (distribution of various tree species and the presence of their names in various Uralic languages) suggest that this area was north of Central Ural Mountains and on lower and middle parts of Ob River.Hajdú 1975:35]

Samoyedic

Among several Samoyedic peoples shamanism was a living tradition also in modern times, especially at groups living in isolation until recent times (Nganasans).Hoppál 2005:92–93] Enets people, Selkups There were distinguished several types of shamans among Nenets people, Enets people,Hoppál 2005:89] Selkups. (The Nganasan shaman used three different crowns, according to the situation: one for upper world, one for underneath word, one for occasion of childbirth.) [Hoppál 2005:207–208]

Nenets people, Enets people, Nganasan people speak Northern Samoyedic languages. They live in North Siberia (Nenets live also in European parts), they provide classical examples. Selkups are the only ones who speak Southern Samoyedic languages nowadays. They live more to the south, shamanism was in decline also at the beginning of 20^th century, although folklore memories could be recorded even in the 1960s.Hoppál 2005:94] Other Southern Samoyedic languages were spoken by some peoples living in the Sayan Mountains, but language shift has finished completely, making all these languages extinct.Hajdú 1975:12] Hajdú 1982:10]

Nenests

Thee were several types of shamans distinguishing ones contacting upper world, ones contacting underneath world, ones contacting the dead.Hoppál 2005:88]

Nganasan

The isolated location of Nganasan people enabled that shamanism was a living phenomenon among them even in the beginning of 20^th century,Hoppál 2005:92] the last notable Nganasan shaman's seances could be recorded on film in the 1970s. [Hoppál 1994:62]

One of the occasions in which the shaman partook was the "clean tent rite". held after the polar night, including sacrifice. [ [http://haldjas.folklore.ee/~aado/tent.htm The Clean Tent Rite] ]

Sayan Samoyedic

Some peoples of the Sayan Mountains spoke once Southern Samoyedic languages. Most of them underwent a language shift in the beginning and middle of the 19^th century, borrowing the language of neighboring Turkic peoples. The Kamassian language survived longer: 14 old people spoke it yet in 1914. In the late 20^th century, some old people had passive or uncertain knowledge of the language, but collecting reliable scientific data was no longer possible.Hajdú 1975:12] Hajdú 1982:10] Today Kamassian is regarded as extinct.

The shamanism of Samoyedic peoples in the Sayan Mountains survived longer (if we regard Karagas as a Samoyedic people, [Diószegi 1960:102,154,243] although such approaches have been refined: the problem of their origin may be more complexcite web |first=Jüri |last=Viikberg |title=The Tofalars |work=The Peoples of the Red Book of the Imperial Russia |publisher=NGO Red Book |isbn=9985-936922 |url=http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/tofalars.shtml] ). Diószegi Vilmos could record not only folklore memories in the late 1950s, but he managed also to talk personally to (no longer practicing) shamans, record their personal memories, songs, some of their paraphernalia. [Diószegi 1960]

A interesting question here: is this shamanism borrowed entirely from neighboring Turkic peoples, or does it have some ethnic features, maybe remnant of Samoyedic origin? Comparative considerations suggest, that
* certainly, there are influences. Karagas shamanism is affected by Abakan-Turkic and Buryat influence. [Diószegi 1960:243] Among the various Soyot cultures, the central Soyot groups, keeping cattle and horses, show Khalkha-Mongolian phenomena in their shamanism, [Diószegi 1960:226] the shamanism of Western Soyots, living on the steppe, is similar to that of Altai Turkic peoples. [Diószegi 1960:238] A shaman story narrates contacts between Soyots and Abakan Turkic peoples in a mythical form. [Diószegi 1960:62–63]
* Karagas and Eastern (reindeer-breeding, mountain-inhabiting) Soyots. have many similarities in their culture [Diószegi 1960:242] and shamanism. [Diószegi 1960:164] It was these two cultures who presented some ethnic features, phenomena lacking among neighboring Turkic peoples. E.g, the structure of their shamanic drum showed such peculiarity: it had "two" transoms.Diószegi 1960:198,243] It was also these two cultures who showed some features, which could be possibly of Samoyedic origin: the shaman's headdress, dress and boots has the effigies symbolizing human organs, mostly bones;Diószegi 1960:128,188,243] in the case of headdress, representation of human face. [Diószegi 1960:110,113] Also the dress-initiating song of the Karagas shaman Kokuyev contained the expression “my shamanic dress with seven vertebrae”. [Diószegi 1960:130] Hoppál interprets the skeleton-like overlay of the Karagas shaman-dress as symbol of shamanic rebirth, [Hoppál 1994:75] similar remark applies for the skeleton-like iron ornamentation of the (not Samoyedic, but genealogically unclassified, Paleosiberian) Ket shamanic dress,Hoppál 1994:65] although it may symbolize also the bones of the loon (the helper animal of the shaman). [Hoppál 2005: 198] (The theory of Ket origin of the Karagas has already been mentioned above.) The skeleton-like overlay symbolized shamanic rebirth also among some other Siberian cultures. [Hoppál 2005: 199]

Finno-Ugric

Finno-Permic

As mentioned, not all Finno-Ugric peoples practiced shamanism in the modern times. Many of Finno-Ugric peoples (includig those of the largest population: Hungarian people, Finnish people) live outside Siberia. Others live in the western part of Siberia (if we define this area in the broadest sense).

Ugric

Obi-Ugric

Although folklore narratives preserved many memories of shamanism, but its practice remained only in fragments by in 1930s among Khanty people, Mansi people. There was more types of shamans.Hoppál 2005:96] [http://texts.00.gs/Shamanism_and_Northern_Ecology,_III.htm Ugric shamanism] is largely Khanty.

Hungarian

Hungarian people have wandered to from the Proto-Uralic area to the Pannonian Basin, thus they have they left Siberia. Shamanism is no more a widespread living practice among them, but some remnants have been reserved as fragments of folklore. Comparative methods can reveal, that some motifs of folktales, some fragments of songs or rhymes of folk customs preserved fragments of the old belief system. Some records narrate us about shaman-like figures directly. Shamanistic remnants in Hungarian folklore was researched among others by Diószegi Vilmos, based on ethnographic records of Hungarian and neighboring peoples, and comparative works with various shamanisms of some Siberian peoples. [Diószegi 1998] Hoppál continued his work of studying Hungarian shamanistic belief remnants, [Hoppál 1998] comparing shamanistic beliefs of Uralic peoples [Hoppál 1975] with those of several non-Uralic Siberian peoples as well. [Hoppál 2005] [Hoppál 1994]

Ket

Traditional culture of Ket people was researched by Matthias Castrén, Vasiliy Ivanovich Anuchin, Kai Donner, Hans Findeisen, Yevgeniya Alekseyevna Alekseyenko. [Hoppál 2005: 170–171] Shamanism was a living practice in the 1930s yet, but by the 1960s almost no authentic shaman could be found. Ket shamanism shared features with those of Turkic and Mongolic peoples.Hoppál 2005: 172] Besides that, there were several types of shamans, [Alekseyenko 1978] Hoppál 2005: 171] differing in function (sacral rites, curing), power and associated animal (deer, bear). Also among Kets (like at several other Siberian peoples, e.g. Karagas [Diószegi 1960: 128, 188, 243] [Diószegi 1960: 130] [Hoppál 1994: 75] ), there are examples of using skeleton symbolics, Hoppál interprets it as a symbol of shamanic rebirth, although it may symbolize also the bones of the loon (the helper animal of the shaman, joining air and underwater world, just like the shaman who travelled both to the sky and the underworld as well). [Hoppál 2005: 198] The skeleton-like overlay reresented shamanic rebirth also among some other Siberian cultures. [Hoppál 2005: 199]

Turkic

Turkic shamanism has been widely amalgamated with Islam, but there are surviving traditions among the Siberian Tatars, Tuvans and Tofalar. See the photos of Tuvan Shamans by Stanislav Krupar www.krupar.com

Tungusic

Among the Tungusic peoples of Siberia, shamanism is also widespread.

Koryak and Chukchi

Linguistically, Koryak and Chukchi are close congeners of Eskimo. [http://texts.00.gs/Koryak_worldview.htm Koryak shamanism] is known.

Eskimo

Eskimo groups comprise a huge area stretching from Eastern Siberia through Alaska and Northern Canada (including Labrador Peninsula) to Greenland. Shamanistic practice and beliefs have been recorded at several parts of this vast area crosscutting continental borders.Kleivan & Sonne 1985] Merkur 1985] Gabus 1970]

Like Eskimo cultures themselves, shamanistic practices reveal diversity. Some mosaic-like examples from various cultures: the soul concepts of the various cultures were diverse as well, some groups believed that the young child had to be taken for by guardian names inherited from a recently deceased relative. Among some groups, this belief amounted to a kind of reincarnation. Also shamanism might include beliefs in soul dualism, where the free-soul of the shaman could fly to celestial or underneath realms, contacting mythological beings, negotiating with them in order to cease calamities or achieve success in hunt. If their wrath was believed to be caused by taboo breaches, the shaman asked for confessions by members of the community.

In most cultures, shamanism could be refused by he candidate: calling could be felt by visions, but generally, becoming a shaman followed conscious considerations.

Unsettled classifications or complex problematics of origin

The linguistical grouping used in this article does not include unsettled classifications, like Altaic and Paleosiberian hypotheses. Aside from this, the origin of several peoples is not a simple question: some groups may have been born through merging people of different origin, other groups underwent a language shift.

Sayan

The problem of origin of peoples of the Sayan Mountains has already been metioned above (Sayan Samoyedic). Also some other peoples living near the Altai may have some relatedness to Uralic (namely Ugric, Samoyedic), Ket, Mongolic peoples.cite web |title=The Altaics |publisher=The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire |url=http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/altaics.shtml] cite web |last=Vajda |first=Edward J |title=The Altai Turks |url=http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ea210/Altai.htm] Hoppál 2005:106] There may be also ethnographic traces of such past of these nowadays Turkic-speaking peoples of the Altai. For example, some of them have phallic-erotic fertility rites, and that can be compared to similar rites of Obi-Ugric peoples.

Demographics

The 2002 census of the Russian Federation reports 123,423 (0.23% of the population) people of ethnic groups which dominantly adhere to "traditional beliefs"

ee also

*Indigenous peoples of the Russian North

Notes

References

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* The book has been translated to English: cite book |last=Diószegi |first=Vilmos |title=Tracing shamans in Siberia. The story of an ethnographical research expedition |others=Translated from Hungarian by Anita Rajkay Babó |publisher=Anthropological Publications |location=Oosterhout |year=1968
* The title means: “Remnants of shamanistic beliefs in Hungarian folklore”.
* Translation of the original: (1944) Vie et coutumes des Esquimaux Caribous. Libraire Payot Lausanne.
* The title means: “"Uralic peoples. Culture and traditions of our linguistic relatives"”; the chapter means “Linguistical background of the relationship”.
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* The title means: “Uralic peoples / Culture and traditions of our linguistic relatives”; the chapter means “The belief system of Uralic peoples and the shamanism”.
* The title means “Shamans, souls and symbols”.
* The title means “Shamans in Eurasia”, the book is published also in German, Estonian and Finnish. [http://www.akkrt.hu/main.php?folderID=906&pn=2&cnt=31&catID=&prodID=17202&pdetails=1 Site of publisher with short description on the book (in Hungarian)] .
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*. The songs are [http://www.ubu.com/ethno/soundings/inuit.html online available] from the ethnopoetics website curated by Jerome Rothenberg.
* Original data: cite book |last=Рубцова |first=Е. С. |title=Материалы по языку и фольклору эскимосов (чаплинский диалект) |year=1954 |publisher=Академия Наук СССР |location=Москва • Ленинград
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* Translation of the original: cite book |last=Vitebsky |first=Piers |title=The Shaman (Living Wisdom) |year=1995 |publisher=Duncan Baird
* The title means: “The magic drum and the clairvoyant women. Sami folktales”, the series means: “Tales of folks”.

External links

* Stanislav Krupar's photos of Siberian shamans Homepage |url=http://www.krupar.com/index.php?file=www/en/gallery/gallery.html&cat=5
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* It describes the life of Chuonnasuan, the last shaman of the Oroqen of Northeast China.
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* Rendering in English: "Ungazik settlement", Kunstkamera, Russian Academy of Sciences. Old photos about former life of a Siberian Yupik settlement, including those of a shaman, performing his séance.
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