Topic: Aboriginal Siberia : a study in social anthropology _ Shamanism - 1914

[Prometheus]

108 SOCIOLOGY

and it is considered most disgraceful for the girl if her fiance has
not eaten the contents. Tliis would seem to show that the Yakut
attach some importance to the conduct of a girl before marriage.^

Sieroszewski describes what he calls the barbaric means which
the Yakut employ to keep girls chaste. This consists of a chastity
girdle, a kind of leather trousers, differing from a man's in that
they open only at one side, and secured by many leather straps
about the loins. This garment is worn constantly, not being re-
moved even at night. -

It cannot be said, then, that the Yakut take no care to preserve
the chastity of their young women ; though it would seem that
their regard for this matter is largely regulated by concern about
the Jcali/m. If this has been partly or fully paid, the parents do not
take any further interest in preserving the girl's chastity. In other
words, the real legal marriage precedes the actual official wedding
ceremonies sometimes by several years; and, in fact, is accomplished
when the suitor formally hands over to the father of his bride
a certain portion of the J:ali/m. During this time the husband has
to visit his wife in the house of her family, and any children born
in this period live with the mother.^

In the marriage ceremonies of the Yakut several stages may be
distinguished : (i) the matchmaking ; (ii) the compact ; (iii) the
l)etrothal ; (iv) the bringing home of the bride. They betroth
their children often when only one or two years old, but the bride
is not given away until a certain part of the kali/m has been i>aid.
As a matter of fact, the Yakut do not employ the term kah/m.
which they think to be a Russian word ; they say suwu (snlu), or
Joirmu, terms which describe the two most important factors in
the Tcalym^: swvu [suhi), the payment to the parents, and Jcurnm,
that to the family (gens). Other parts of the kaJi/m are : uos assar,
' the opening of the mouth ', which is never returned, and is paid
at the beginning of the matchmaking proceedings to propitiate the
father of the bride ; and Jioinohor'' Msi, 'the gift for the night'.
The Jcalym is made up of horses, cattle, furs, meat, &c.

The marriage ceremonial consists essentially in an exchange of
gifts ; for while the bridegroom pays kalym, the bride on her part

* Ibid. ^ Sieroszewski, 12 Lat ir Kraju Yakiitoir, p. 342.

' Langans, The Yakut, 1824, pp. 146-7. Similar statements are to be
found in tlie works of N. Kostioff, Customary Law of the Yakut, p. 280,
and N. S. Shchukin, Tlie Yakut, 1854, p. 27.

* Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 325. ^ Maak writes hoinosor.



MARRIAGE 109

brings to his house her dowry, ainiii. The matchmaker, in the
person of the bridegroom's father or some other respected person,
goes to the house of the bride. This is called t'ningnur tiuscr,
' the arrival of the matchmaker '. Afterwards there follows
a visit from the mother of the bridegroom, referred to as hodohol
tiuser, 'the arrival of tlie matchmakeress '. She spends two or
three days with the bride, is well entertained with rich feasts, as
her husband had been, and, when she departs, presents are given
to her train.' These, howevei-, are usually returned when tlie
bride goes to her new home.

Maak says that after this follows the bringing home of the bride ;
J>ut Sieroszewski describes another ceremony which probably pre-
cedes the visits of the prospective father-in-law and mother-in-law.
This is the betrothal, called Mtegan. Two or three of the most
honoured male relatives of the suitor accompany him to the house
of the girl's father, where they sit for two days on the billiri/Jc.'^
After this they leave the house, but return in a short time without
the suitor, ask the father on his behalf for his daughter's hand,
and arrange with him the amount of the Jcalpn. During all this
time the girl must be absent, and but seldom is her opinion asked.
She, however, often observes the groom without being perceived
by him. No one sends matchmakers to a house where a suitor
has been refused for a whole year after the refusal.^ Dui-ing the
time of her fiance's first visit to a girl he must avoid the rest of
her people, being comj^elled to remain behind a hanging which
cuts off her special sleeping-place from the rest of the yurta.^

When the marriage compact is concluded this is referred to as
sinnahh Ihongoruta, 'they have given their word'.^

At last the father and mother of the bride assemble their
relatives and conduct her to the bridegroom's house. This is
called tiungnur hodolioi tiuser, i.e. 'arrival of the matchmaker and
matchmakeress '. Horses with richly decorated saddles, called
charamni, bring the bride's tinna. Her clothes are known as dnnii

^ Maak, Jlie Viluijxk District of the Yakutsk Territonj, 1887, part iii,
pp. 93-5.

" Billinjk is a bench in the quietest and warmest nook of the wall in
the side of the yurta. The most honoured guest— the shaman who is
called in to perform his office, or the matchmaker — is placed upon it.
This hiUinjk must be distinguished from another called 'left' hilliryk,
the bench on which the Avomen and girls sit and sleep.

^ Sieroszewski, op. cit., pp. 328-30.

* Pavlinoff, Marnage Law of the Yakut, 1871, pp. 300-4.

° Priklonski, op. cit., p. 54.



110 SOCIOLOGY

tangaha, and the cattle she brings as iinnd sieJcJii. The meat and
other food that come "with her are called l\ijs lesif, ' gifts of the
bride '. In her retinue the men ride first, and the horse on which
she is mounted, as richly caparisoned as she herself is richly
dressed, is led by the bridle by one of her train. Among them is
usually a highly skilled horseman. As the cavalcade approaches
the house of the bridegroom there comes thence another good
rider, and the two ride a race. The loser is tied to the saddle of
the poorest girl in the bride's train, and during the wedding-feast
he has to wait upon the guests. This custom is known as ken
Jcersier, ' the race of the youths '. The bride does not at once enter
the t/urta. Three men who can drink much Icumijs are first sent
in, and are given large quantities of this liquor, which they must
drink Vl\). Only then does the matchmaker lead into the yurla
the bride and all her train.

Then comes the ceremony of ' the sacrifice to the fire ', which is
strictly observed even by Christian Yakut. ^

Priklonski- says that the bride approaches the fire from the
north, and throwing into it three sticks brought from her own
yurta, and a piece of butter, pronounces these words : ' I come as
mistress to rule the hearth '. Then she bows to her father-in-law
and mother-in-law, and the feast begins, the young couple being
seated apart from the rest of the company. After the feast, the
married pair retire to the sleeping-place prepared for them.

For three days the bride's gens is entertained by the gens of the
groom ; various gifts are then exchanged, and they depart to tiieir
homes.

The marriage ceremonies of to-day are without dances or songs,
says Sieroszewski ; ^ but he was told by several Yakut that
formerly the bride was welcomed to her new abode by a shaman,
and that a sacrifice was performed by him on her behalf.

A Yakut wife in her husband's house is surrounded by various
prohibitions, which affect both her and the other inmates mutually
in their relations to each other. The prohibition which binds the
woman is with regard especially to her father-in-law, but refers
also to other older male relations. It is known as kinitti, and
according to this she (i) is not allowed to pass in front of the fire
of the father-in-law and other older male relatives, but must pass



* Maak, op. eit.. pp. 94-5. * Op. cit., p. 56.

3 Op. cit., p. 219.



MARRIAGE 111

l)eliincl it from the north-west ; (ii) must not talk in a loud voice,
nor ut;e words with a douldo meaning; (iii) must not call her
father-in law by his name, and even if his name signilies an ol)ject
in common use, she can only name this object Ijy means of
a periphrasis— e. g. if he is called ' Flint', she must say 'fire-stone',
when speaking of a flint ; (iv) must not eat of the head of any
animal, for the father-in-law is head of the house ; (v) must, when
addressing her father-in-law or mother-in-law, draw her cap down
as far as possilde over her eyes ; (vi) must not show her hair to
her father-in-law, or bare her feet or any part of her body before
him.^

Sieroszewski - says that the custom of Jcinitti was formerly much
more strict. The bride was forbidden to show herself for seven
years after her marriage to her father-in-law or brothers-in-law, or
to any male relative of her husband. The married pair lived on
the left (women's) side of the yurta behind a special partition.
From there, through a crevice, the young woman could observe the
men of the household, and so as to avoid meeting them, must
pass in or out through the pig-sty entrance of the i/iida and not
through that used by the other inmates. If she could not avoid
a meeting, she must cover her face: so that sometimes a bride
might die without any of the men of the household having seen
her features. At the marriage ceremony the bride's sister must
not show her head, or so much as her hair, to the bridegroom or
to any of his male relations.^

The men of the household must also observe certain rules.
Formerly they had to avoid the bride altogether, saying, ' Ah, poor
child, she is bashful.'"* Nowadays they need do no more than
keep a guard upon their language, so as not to say anything
unseemly in her presence, for the Yakut customarily use great
freedom in conversation. They must not show in her presence
any part of their bodies bare — the arm above the elbow, or
the leg above the ankle. The bride enjoys the care and pro-
tection of everybody, and it is said that sometimes she does no
work for a whole year after marriage, but only eats and sleeps.
Her dowry is her personal property and inalienable.^

A Yakut usually takes his wife from another clan {aya-usa).

^ Priklonski, op. cit., pp. 60-1.

2 Op. cit., pp. 337-41. 3 ii^ij,

* Gorokhotf, Kinitti, E. S. S. I. R. G. S., 1887, p. 71.

^ Priklonski, op. cit., p. GO.



112 SOCIOLOGY

Sieroszewski knew of only one case of a man taking a wife from
his own gens, and when the woman shortly after marriage grew
blind, it was said that this was a pnnishment for breaking an old
custom.^ Gorokhoff states that rich Yakut look for their wives
not only outside their own clan, but outside the nasleg, i. e. in
another uhis.'-' '?'

When the Cossacks fii-st came among the Yakut, they found
polygyny fully developed ; but nowadays, as the Yakut have
become poorer, and the Icdlijm is somewhat large, it is not so much
practised. Another reason for the decline of the custom is that
girls die in infancy more frequently than boys, as they are not so
carefully tended. The less civilized an vlus is, the fewer women
it contains."* Jochelson says : ' The Arctic Yakut, having come
into contact with the Yukaghir, must have fallen under the in.
fluence of their marriage customs ; for the Yakut living in the
northern part of the Kolyma district, near the tundra Yukaghir,
do not observe at present their old exogamic custom.' ^

We suggest that the decline of exogamic custom among the
Yakut, ascribed by Mr. Jochelson to Yukaghir influence, may be
rather the result of environment, which, causing the people to
disperse, forces men to take wives from among their own gens.
On the other hand, the custom of exogamy among the Yakut
is not of an indefinitely ancient date. The following facts may be
adduced in support of this assertion : (i) In their legends and
traditions there are frequent references to unions between people
of the same clans, even between brother and sister ; (ii) the exis-
tence of regulations enforcing avoidance of each other among
members of the same family ; (iii) the terminology of relationships.

Some of the allusions in the traditions mentioned above are as
follows :

' Thy sister was thy wife ; thy mother was thy wife ; the wife
of thy brother was also thy wife.' *^ ' Of old when the youth could
draw the bow he took to wife his sister and led her to a quiet
place.' " * In ancient times when an older or younger sister was

^ Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 330. ^ GorokhofF, ibid.

^ An uliis is composed of several naslegs.

* Sieroszewski, op. cit., pp. 332-3.

^ Jochelson, The Yukaghir and Yiikaghirized Tungns, J. N. P. E., 1910,
p. 80.

® Recorded in the tdus of Bayagantay in 1885. Sieroszewski, op. cit.,
p. 335.

' Recorded iu the iilus of Namsk, 1891. Sieroszewski, op. cit., p. 335.



MARRIAGE 113

given in nianiage into anotlier clnn, tlie brothers tlid not let her

go before they had lain with her (custom of t7/o/M«««r) When

strangers take to wife from her l)rothers a woman wlio is still
a virgin, the brothers account it a shame for themselves.'^ The
expression chohmnur is still used to denote having sexual inter-
course with a woman, and also making a hostess of her. In the
old folk-ballads, olongho, we have allusions to a hero being in
danger, and his sister-lover going to his rescue. -

If 3'oung women have sexual relations with men before marriage,
it is always within their own clan, and there is a decided tendency
towards such relations. In the idus of Kolymsk, in a village
called Andalykh, in the autumn the older girls, with the know-
ledge of their parents, go at night to small houses on the lake,
where they receive boys from the neighbourhood. One night in
1883, Sieroszewski lost his way, and found himself in one of these
houses. He heard also of other places in this neighbourhood
where girls spent their time in fishing through the ice, and
receiving boj's of their clan by day and by night.^

This tendency is restricted by different prohibitions, such as
that boys between the ages of ten and twelve must sleep apart
from their sisters, in spite of the fact that this entails additional
expense for beds. This is not to be accounted for by any con-
siderations of mere modesty, for it is not unusual for the girls
to appear quite naked in the presence of their brothers.^

The terms of relationship, which will be more fully treated
later, are characterized by an absence of any words for ' husband '
and 'father'. The term aga, corresponding to our 'father',
literally means only ' older ' : in inquiring some one's age people
say, ' Is he aga (older) or haJijs (younger) ? ' The term erim, corre-
sponding to our ' husband ', means in fact ' my man '. While the
ordinary word for wife is oijoJch, there is a special term for ' my
woman' — djaTihatcr-cm:' The term for 'mother' is ?/c, literally,
' womb ', ' embryo '. In the olongho the heroes often go on journeys
to find out who their fathers are. That the relation of the child
was primarily regarded as being only with the mother is shown
Ijy the older name of the clan, yc-vsa, which remains now only as
the name of a subdivision of the clan (aga-usa). The members
of ye-usa must be of the same blood, while the aga-usa may include



Ibid. 2 Op. cit., pp. 336-7. =» Op. cit., p. 342.

' Op. cit., p. 337. "^ Op. cit., p. 338.



114 SOCIOLOGY

others also. Tlius i/e-usa has retained only a part of its old signifi-
cance.^ The al)0ve considerations seem to point to a transition
from a matrilineal, matrilocal, and perliaps matripotestal endo-
gamic organization to one which is patrilineal, patrilucal, patri-
potestal, exogamic.

B. The Altaians.

Wierbicki,- the Kussian missionary, describes the marriage
ceremony among the Altaians as it was at the end of the nine-
teenth century. He distinguishes two types of the ceremony,
as it obtains among (a) the southei*n, and (b) the northern Altaians.^

He says that among the northern Altaians the wife is still
usually obtained by capture. From his description it is evident
that this form of marriage is so sanctified by public opinion that
the capture is now at the stage of becoming jiractically symbolic ;
for in the Altaian marriage ceremonies we see at the present day
nothing more than symbolic traces of original marriage by capture.

According to the southern form of marriage custom, a young
man sends to his jjrospective father-in-law matchmakers, one of
whom, kneeling before the father-in-law, delivers the following-
eloquent speecli : * I come, bending my knee upon your thres-
liold. I come, bowing to your beliefs. I come, in admiration of
your way of life. I come to ask you for a head ! May the union
that I come to make be as inseparable as two cheeks ; may it be
as impenetrable as a warrior's breastplate. May our kinship
be as close as the rings in a birch-trunk, or as stitches of silk in
a garment ! I come to ask of you a haft for a haftless knife.
Nine generations ago there \vas war : I come to make peace."*

' Op. cit., p. 293.

2 Wierbicki, The Xathr.'^ oftho Altai, 1893, pp. 81-5.

' By southern Altaians Wierbicki understands the so-called Kalmuk of
Altai. But the name Kalmuk is not correctly applied here, for it
implies that these people are Mongolic, whereas, linguistically at least,
they are a Turkic tribe. The second tribe included by Wierbicki among
the southern Altaians is that of thfi Kalmuk-Uriankhai, who have more
of a Mongol admixture. Still another group, according to him, are the
Teleut. The northern Altaians he takes to include the Tartars of
Chern, cheni being the name of the dense, dark forest which covers the
northern slope of the Altai. These so-called Tartars show little trace of
Tartar origin, and are the result of a mixture of Turkic and Mongolic
tribes. All these people have in common, however, the Turkic language
and traditions. (Wierbicki, op. cit., pp. 5-7.)

?* Priklonski says that among the Yakut when a matchmaker comes to
a family with whom his principal was formerly at feud, he must bring



MARRIAGE 115

I come ill admiration of your way of life. I come to make a union
between us. What answer will you give me ? '

With these words the matchmaker, still kneeling, otters to the
father a pipe filled with tobacco, turning the mouthpiece towards
him. Meanwhile a second matchmaker holds ready a piece of
burning fungus, to present it to the father as soon as he shall
stretch out his hand to take the pipe.

[Prometheus]

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.



MARRIAGE 121

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.

[Prometheus]

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.



130 SOCIOLOGY

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.

[Prometheus]

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



132 SOCIOLOGY

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.



134 SOCIOLOGY

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.

[Prometheus]

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.



140 SOCIOLOGY

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.



CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH 141

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.



142 SOCIOLOGY

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

[Prometheus]

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



148 SOCIOLOGY

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.



150 SOCIOLOGY

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.



CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 151

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.



152 SOCIOLOGY

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.



154 SOCIOLOGY

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.

[Prometheus]

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.)



158 SOCIOLOGY

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.



160 SOCIOLOGY



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.



CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH DEATH 161

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.

)«79 M

[Prometheus]

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.



I



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.



168 RELIGION

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.)



170 RELIGION

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.

[Prometheus]

' 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.

1679 jj

[Prometheus]

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.

N 2



180 RELIGION

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.



THE SHAMAN 181

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.

[Prometheus]

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.



188 EELIGION

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.

1679 O

[Prometheus]

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.'^

[Prometheus]

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,''

[Prometheus]

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.

[Prometheus]

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