I. S. Sh. R., 1st Conference (Shamans & Cultures), Part 4 : "Eurasia".

-----------------------------------------------------------

IV.3 (pp. 200-5) Roberte N. Hayamon : "Shamanism and Pragmatism in Siberia".

pp. 201-3 marriage of huntsman to goddess of hunting

p.

marriage

201

"The exchange relationship ... expressed in the ritual marriage of the shaman with the daughter (or sister) of the game-giving spirit. This ... marriage makes the shaman a rightful husband in the supernatural world ...; therefore, as husband he is entitled to perform his ... hunting, that is, to obtain good luck or promises of game. ...

202

This is why the aptitude for becoming a shaman is always attributed to ... the ability to seduce the daughter of the game-giving spirit ... . He will be a good shaman on the earth, ... insofar as he is a good husband in the supernatural world, because he needs his in-laws’ support for performing his actions, namely for obtaining good luck in hunting."

203

"The pattern is slightly different in the pastoral societies that live in the steppe region on the borders of the Siberian forest. In these societies, the shamanic function ... reflects ... that the supernatural wife of the first ancestor shaman is inherited as a supernatural wife by his descendants and thus makes them shamans. ... if a candidate shaman is allowed to make use of his right to become a shaman, it is because he is ... as worthy of the supernatural wife’s love."

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IV.4 (pp. 206-9) Dashimina Dugarov : "On the Origin of White Shamanism".

p. 206 stricken by levin

"As for the Buryats, not everyone can be a white shaman, but only those with ancestors or close relatives ... who possessed the so-called udkha ... . The family received udkha ... by the Thunderer. A man killed by lightning would be announced posthumously as one chosen by the gods ... . Henceforth his family would receive udkha, which is also called ‘thunder root’ (neryer udkha). ... The main cult-tree was the white birch ... . White shamans made a baton from this tree." {White is apparently selected because it is the natural color of lightning.}

p. 207 term for ‘create’

"The theonym Aia (‘Creator’) ... is not etymologized in Mongolian languages ... . In the Yakut-Russian dictionary ai means ‘to create’, ‘to give existence’, and the name of the Yakut Supreme God-creator ‘Aiyy’, has this root. Linguists have tried in vain to find it in any Ural-Altaic language. ... . ... the verb i, or aia ..., was ... a ... loanword from a non-Altaic language. This existed in three ancient, closely related and now dead, ... languages : Hittite, Luwian and Tokharian, with the meaning ‘to make’, or ‘to create’. {Nesite and Luwian borrowed very heavily from H^attic, an East-Caucasian language : since East-Caucasian extendeth into Kas`mir (to include the Burus^aski language there), it is not surprising to find vestiges of it also in so-called Tokharian (which is better styled Issedonian, or Wu-sun).} This explains why ... the god-creator ... in Yakut Aiyy and Lappish Aie, is ... for this God ... his attribute as ‘creator’."

p. 209 octagon

"There were eight-cornered images of the sun, and ... the Buryats called the sun their mother and drew it with eight rays known as ‘feet’."

-----------------------------------------------------------

IV.6 (pp. 214-22) Takako Yamada : "Spirit Possession and Shamanism among the Ladakhi".

p. 216 [Bodish account of] instances of categories deities

category of deities

instances

owners of places

"a god of the ground (sa-bdag),

a god of fields (zhing-lha) and

a god of ovens (thab-lha)."

ailment-causers

"gdon, ... bdud, btsan, ... gnyan, mtsho-sman, and klu-bsen".

madness-causers

">byung-po, smyo-pyed, dri-mo and dri-pho".

spirit-possessors

"gson->dre ..., part of the soul of a living person that has possessed another person {cf. (in the Qabbalah) ‘soul-sparks’ which are soul-fragments of another persons functioning as mentors},

shin->dre, the soul of the dead, and

lha a god without a ... [material] body."

p. 217 curers

"am-chi who may prescribe appropriate herbal medicines. If his treatment is not effective, then ...

appeal ... to an om-po to divine what is the ultimate cause of the sickness, or the type of supernatural agent affecting them".

p. 218 types of non-lha possessing-spirits (in Ladakh)

"Ladakhi people say that ... [a person possessed by] >gong-rkyal is usually a woman, and that they hardly know any examples of a man’s soul possessing others. Both possessor and possessed are usually women."

"possession by >gong-rkyal [gson->dre are designated as >gon-rkyal in Ladakh (p. 217)] can be recognized by its frequent occurrence in the evening, by ... weird grinning, trembling and changes in facial colour. ... However, people also believe that if they tie saved string tightly around the middle finger of the possessed, ... she will begin to tell ... why she is possessing someone, or what she wants. A >gong-rkyal seldom reveals her own name".

"Those possessed by shin->dre ... recall that they felt stiff finger joints, ... and experienced ... repeated yawning. Another characteristic is that it tells who it is. Shin->dre will possess an individual initially to prevent them from possession by lha, but they are likely later to become possessed by lha."

pp. 219-221 how klu-gyar become possessed by lha

p.

possession by lha

219

"Klu-gyar denotes Ladakhi religious specialist ... one who can permit a spirit to possess oneself at will. A possessed Klu-gyar becomes a lha in a se’ance. Lha-mo or lha-ba ... while in a trance ... divine reasons for losses or ... foretell the future."

 

"In fact, one lha-mo said she had ... felt like climbing to the top of a mountain, and smelt nonexistent incense sticks. {I likewise have smelled praeternatural spice-oils.} ...

 

Another lha-mo said that her initial ... psychic state was the result of possession by gson->dre (>gong-rkyal). She spoke just like another woman was speaking. ... She ... then was possessed by another spirit confirmed to be lha ... . ...

 

One lha-ba narrated he felt a sense of oppression in his joints. He frequently had ... dreams, in which he was thrown from high cliffs {cf. Theseus by Luko-medes} or flew on horses in the sky {cf. Bellero-phon on Pegasos}. He was almost driven to running wild, and once he actually woke up at night roaming about {somnambulism}."

220

"When a rin-po-che performs an invitation ritual (spyan->dren), good spirits possess a patient easily ... . ... Then the rin-po-che will ask the patient to foretell the future ... . If his prediction is right, the possessing spirit is considered a good lha."

"To settle a possessed state caused by an evil spirit, the rin-po-che performs a khrus ritual, which is purification through washing with holy water ... . Some patients ... may be possessed repeatedly even after the rituals. This is considered a sign that an evil spirit is strongly trying to prevent possession by a lha, and is, therefore, considered the same as a good spirit eagerly attempting to possess the patient. In such cases the rin-po-che will advise patients to undergo a rite called lha-phog conducted by a senior lha-mo or lha-ba. This is a sort of initiation, intended to ... force possession by a good lha. ... . ... a lha-phog rite ... can be performed only by a lha-mo or a lha-ba. ... It may take one month to complete a lha-phog rite, after which a patient is acknowledged as a novice of klu-gyar. ... Gradually he is to be trained to be possessed by his own volition. The ability to make a god lha enter oneself is considered ... the ability to control the god. ...

One woman after completing her rite was able to let a god lha possess her after performing an invitation ritual but she could not become a lha-mo since

221

no one understood what her lha spoke. {"Speaking in unknown tongues", is what this is called in Pentacostalism.} To become a real lha-mo or lha-ba, it is necessary that the speech of the lha can be understood. Novices also have to obtain clairvoyance".

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IV.7 (pp. 223-8) Gregory Gabriel Maskarinec : "Mortuary Caerimonies of Nepali Shamans".

contrast between redincarnational (metempsychotic) religions and their contrary

p. 223 "If any minimal definition of religion involves some sense of release from the mundane world, an achieving of some sort of disengagement, whether of ... otherworldly residence, or even an extinguishing of the self, then shamanism, as actively practiced by the jha~kris throughout Western Nepal, is emphatically not a religion. ... For shamans, their personal death ceremonies mark the abandonment of neither world nor profession. Rather, the career of a successful shaman {just like the bodhi-sattva yana (‘career of a bodhi-sattva’)}, once begun {in each adulthood}, never ends {except that it is temporarily in remission during the childhood of each lifetime, having to be regenerated in the adulthood of each lifetime}, least of all with death."

{By this standard, then, emphatically, the only system meeting the definition of ‘religion’ is Christianity : for, this-worldly redincarnation/metempsychosis is accepted as the norm throughout Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, and even (vide the book American Rebirth) in the Ameridian tribes, as well as in the West-African tribes. It be added that the more mystical of Muslim (such as Druze) and of Hebrew (such as Qabbalah) denominations likewise accept redincarnation/metempsychosis.} {The notion of "extinguishing of the self" is very much a doctrine of atheism, rather than of any religion.}

death of a shaman

p. 223 "A shaman should predict the moment of his own death, which can take place at his home, with his former pupils summoned to attend it. Dressed in his full costume, he dies sitting up, cross-legged.

{The reason why a shaman is able to praedict the moment of his death is that he hath made an appointment with divine being, their setting a time (at their convenience) at which it will be most feasible for them to transport him (his soul) to a new body for starting another lifetime.}

The corpse is tied to a board to support it, and is carried outside in this posture, upright, by his pupils. A piece of bitter aromatic root [Nepali : kacur] is put under the tongue, a staff in his left hand, a drumstick in his right. Ashes ...

{The kacur may be a gift to divine transporter of him (his soul) to a new body for another lifetime, much as [in Hellas] an obol was put into the mouth of a corpse as a payment to Kharon the ferryman of souls of the dead.} {The staff would be to assist in walking; and the drumstick would be a wand for Hermes, conductor of souls.}

are applied across the closed eyes, which are then blindfolded."

{cf. [Aztec] blindfolded god Ixquimilli}

pp. 224-5 1st ½ of Recital of Tili-karman

p.

recital

224

"episodes from the life of the original shaman, Jumratam"{Jumra-atman} : "his marriage with one of several sisters, another of whom marries the king. Later, ... the shaman seduces his sister-in-law, ... is persecuted ... and ... hides is the level of the underworld known as Tilikarma {perhaps the vi-TaLa netherworld of the hat.aka-metal (mentioned in the Puran.a-s)}, where metalworking originated."

 

At his instruction, his wife Jhuma Jha~krelni doffed her gold earrings, her nose-jewel, and her finger-rings; "wore her blouse inside out, wore her skirt inside out".

 

on the trail walked by __

there may be __

 

Jumra-atman to Tili-karman

"marks of a walking stick",

"a line of turmeric"

225

witches

"a spun thread of nettles",

"a line of ashes"

 

spirits

"charcoal"

 

"lost souls" [preta-s]

"rice mixed with blood"

 

forest-spirits

"fragments of gourd,

streaked with white clay."

 

shamans

"crossroads,

with ... dried leaves"

 

"Jumratam takes up residence as a blacksmith in the underworld."

 

his pledge of __

was returned to __

 

"matted locks of hair"

"the syali tree"

 

"pheasant feathers"

"Kala Patan"

 

"a tie string"

"the puwa grove"

 

"cowrie shells"

"the merchant’s store"

 

"kacur root"

"the kacur garden"

 

"charcoal ashes"

"the sandalwood tree"

pp. 225-6 tomb for dead shaman’s corpse

p.

tomb

 

"A flat stone is aligned over his head. Centered on this stone is a bamboo basket, in the [c]enter of which is placed a wooden jug ... . Another flat stone is set on top this ... . ...

226

On the protruding pole are hung the deceased shaman’s long top-knot (lat.t.a), ... his feathers and bells, and his drum".

pp. 226-7 further recitals by the former pupils of the dead guru

p.

recital

226

[Recital of Offering to the Messenger of Death] "denied a dowry which she demands of nine suns and nine moons, a descendant of Indra cremates herself, becoming the very first case of death."

 

[2nd ½ of the Recital of Tili-karman] "The king’s messengers are sent r capture Jumratam. ...

227

They promise the jhakreni that the shaman will be given half the kingdom, and she finally instructs them of the path to Tilikarma, which they follow. ... they identify the original shaman (now disguised as a blacksmith) and they throw fragrant leaves into the forge, causing several distinct classes of subordinate spirit entities to possess him :

He began to tremble lightly, began to tremble more heavily,

with twelve vir, twenty-two maphi, twenty-two bara^ng,

the fields shook, the forests shook,

Rammma Jumratam began to be possessed.

As these lines are sung, the pole protruding from the tomb shakes {cf. the "shaking tent" of the Midewiwin society} – the spirit of the dead jha~kri has returned from the underworld. He possesses them and chants along with them the conclusion of the recital (the curing of the king ...). His spirit, now genuinely a ‘tutelary’ one from which instructions may be received, is added to the diverse spirits whom his successors summon whenever they perform, assuring that his career as a shaman continues" {ascititious to his new career that his will start in the world whereto he (his soul) hath transmigrated}.

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IV.8 (pp. 229-39) Giovanni Stary : "Secret ‘Handbook’ of a Sibe-Manc^u Shaman".

p. 229 location of tribe

"The Sibe {cf. /SIBEria/} people ... belong to the Manchu-Tungus ... in the Ili valley ... . ... . ... the end of 18th century [Chr.E.], ... a part of the Sibe was transferred ... from native Manchurian to the ‘New territories’ (i.e. Xianjiang)".

p. 232 how the shaman is able to arrive in heaven

that I may __

"be strengthened with the white iron"

"leap on an unbridled camel"

"ride on a white ox"

"find a golden ladder, there where the Heaven and the Earth meet, ...

affix a magic ladder between the Sun and the Moon"

pp. 234-5 the 18 karun (‘sentry-posts’) passed with the assistance of mangin (daimones)

p.

#

sentry-post

sentry at post

__ Mangin

234

1.

"Greenish Steppe"

6 wolves

Niohuri (‘Wolf’)

 

2.

Black Forest

5 wild swine

Aiduha (‘Boar’)

 

3.

"Nisiha River"

4 wild horses

Surulu (‘White Horse’)

 

4.

Bonko Mountain

man on white horse

Selei Sain Jangin (‘Iron-Good General’)

 

5.

"Red Steppe"

" " "

Wehei Sain (‘Stone-Good’)

 

6.

Plum Orchard

big hawk

Anculan (‘Owl’)

 

7.

Nun River

"yellow-coated animal"

Ayulu

 

8.

Jonko Mountain

man with yellow hair

Kurulu

 

9.

"Yellow Steppe"

man with black hair

Sahaliyan (‘Black’)

235

10.

Pear Orchard

big eagle

Daimulja (‘Eagle’)

 

11.

Semur River

big leopard

Yarhai (‘Leopard’)

 

12.

Yehur River

man holding lance

Aine Dede

 

13.

"Pale Steppe"

male tigre

Tashur (‘Tigre’)

 

14.

Mulberry Orchard

tiny man

S^aci

 

15.

Sehur Rock

man holding sword

Aki

 

16.

5 Springs

"snake 90 li long"

Musuru

 

17.

Sumbur Valley

"python 90 li long"

Jabja (‘Python’)

 

18.

Ijili River

tigress

Biren Tashur (‘Female Tigre’)

p. 235 the 3 paper-figurines

"the shaman ... exorcises certain illnesses with the help of three paper figures (urhu) :

the first represents the supreme shaman divinity (Isanju Mama),

the second ‘Lord of illnesses’ (Nimeku Ejen),

the third the ‘Old woman of the variola’ (Mafa Mama)."

pp. 235-6 animals successively stolen, their bones used in ritual (entailing the 3 paper-figurines) to avert sicknesses

p.

site of theft

animal

what was done with animal’s bones

235

city of Tunjeo

camel

were broken and ground in a mill : the powdered bone moistened with "the water from the river Ijili"

236

Mongolian steppe

"

were broken and ground in a mill : the powdered bone moistened with "the water from the river Nis^iha"

 

city of Ijeo

ox

"with the ox’s bones I built a chair"

 

"the exorcism – continues with a list of similar episodes with

a sheep, a goat, a cock and a duck."

p. 236 ointments for curing parts of the body

powdered seeds of __

mixed with the fat of a __

is able to cure the __

millet

ox

tongue

"seeds of certain herbs"

pheasant

nose

rice

squirrel

heart

pp. 236-7 dissection of the body of evil spirits wherever they attempt to enter the household of a human

p.

way of entry

part of body cut off

where body-part is hung

whither body-part is carried afterwards

236

gate

head

"on a plum tree"

"a safe place"

 

window

liver

"fork in the road"

"the Fahai Gate"

 

door

gut

"garden of melons"

"North Sea’s borderland"

236-7

"over the wall"

stomach

"garden of pumpkins"

[p. 237] "West Sea’s borderland"

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IV.9 (pp. 240-8) Fu Yuguang : "Worldview of a Manc^u Shaman".

pp. 241-3 Manc^u mythology

p.

myth

241

Manc^u "shamanic scriptures refer ... as ‘Ang-a-e-dun’ (mouth of wind), indicating that the gigantic mouth of wind could swallow everything in the world."

242

"In the Manchu myth "Xi Lin Sefu", the big shaman Xi Lin flew ten days in his trance and

243

finally reached the "Golden Tower above the Cave" where Wuli Seli (Goddess of the East Sea) inhabited in the universe.

 

In the Manchu epic Wubuxiben Mama, the big shamaness sat on a sacred drum in her dream and flew up like a goose, and fought with clouds and thunder above the East Sea." {In the Manchu epic about the great shaman Wubuxiben mama, the crow was a companion of heaven. It died after eating a black herb, was transformed into a black horse, and became a messenger bringing warnings and bad news." (LE, p. 232)}

LE = Evelyn Sakakida Rawski = The Last Emperors. U of CA Pr, Berkeley, 1998. http://books.google.com/books?id=5iN5J9G76h0C&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=%22Manchu+Epic%22&source=bl&ots=8pToMRMxxi&sig=U2AEYYAraoxLinqeQqD1MHNz7vM&hl=en&ei=lK4KTZv7JoP88AaqpJGfAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&sqi=2&ved=0CEcQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22Manchu%20Epic%22&f=false

pp. 243-4 numerics in Manc^u cosmology

p.

numeric

243

"A Manchu shamanic scripture goes that "mounting the sky for 99 layers, each with numerous deities." {The Buryat sky-deities are often reckoned as 99 in number.}

 

"The Manchu ancestors "often lived in deep caves and used nine ladders" (Hou Han Shu, Vol. 115).

In the Manchu myth "The War in Heaven," the ... nine is ... as follows : When the Sky Deity Abukai Hehe fought with the demon Yeluli, a row of monstrous caves appeared in the horizon. Whoever fell into the caves could never return to Heaven. Grabbing several goose feathers, the Sky Deity jumped over the nine dark caves and flew up to the top layer of the sky; while the demon was blinded by the ravens and fell into the seventh cave. {"When Abka hehe fought with Yeluli, ... Yeluli caught her by her battle skirt, which was made of willow leaves. Some of these leaves broke off and fell to earth, where they gave rise to living creatures." (LE, p. 232) – cf. the leaf-clothing worn by Sita (according to the Rama-ayana).} Therefore, in rituals, the shaman must dance nine circles ..., and he must climb to the ninth sky to communicate with the deities." {Taoists commonly reckon the heavens as 9 in number.}

244

"The idea of paradise as the upper world, human world as the middle world, and hell as the underworld probably comes from the Yakuts with Christian or Orthodox influence." {Actually, it is a system of described antient, traditional Taoist literature, more than a thousand years older than any Russian Orthodox influence. It also is commonplace in traditional cultures worldwide.}

 

"The Manchu shamanic scriptures and myths have retained the ‘nine-sky’ ... version ... that the universe is divided into nine layers.

The upper three layers form the upper world where the Sky Deity Abuhaenduri and other natural deities live.

The middle world also have {hath} three layers for human beings, birds and lesser spirits.

The three layers at the bottom constitute the ... dark world – residence of Banajiemu (earth mother), the female deities governing the dark night, as well as the demons. ...

The shaman is a messenger of the nine skies. He can fly up to communicate with the deities".

pp. 245-6 Manc^u goddesses

p.

goddess

245

S^anyamukgas^a (‘White Water Bird’ goddess) : "As the myth of the Kang-aili clan of the Manchu goes, the White Water Bird changed from a white-skin girl. In the distant past, when the earth was torn by the great flood, a kindhearted shamaness took the risk of fishing to feed her clansmen. One time, she mistook a white rock for a fish and smashed on it, thus turning into a white-feather bird."

 

"one myth tells [of] one goddess with the cosmic power of

three heads, eight arms and nine feet,

capable of shaking the universe and flying freely across nine layers in the upper world.

 

The earliest sky deities in human form in Manchu myths are the three goddesses {= the 3 Kharites?}. They always emerge and disappear together. Their three pairs of eyes look into all directions, governing the peace of the world. {"According to one myth, three fairy maidens took a bath in Tianchi (Heavenly Lake) in the Changbai Mountains. The youngest ate a small red fruit that a golden bird carried in its bill. She got pregnant and bore a boy who could speak as soon as he was born." ("M-M")} {"the concrete location of the"three fairies" is the Bolang Lake in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang" ("MMO")} ...

246

The Manchu ancestor’s myth "The War in Heaven" records that the three goddesses are called by a joint name, Abuka Hehe, who was responsible for ... leading other deities to fight against demons. Abuka means ‘sky,’ and Hehe – which may be defined as ‘woman’ – comes from the Manchu term fefe, meaning ‘woman’s genitals.’ "

 

"Some shamanic scriptures call the sky as Goddess Yase (eyes). When she closed her eyes, the ...weather was beautiful. But when she opened her eyes, snow storms and hailstones befell upon mankind."

 

"the Earthly Mother Banajiemu. Banajiemu was gigantic in shape, with belly and breasts as huge as mountains, and she was boundless with kindness. The dirt and hair from her ears turned into forests and mountains {dirt into mountains, hair into forests}, and her sweat became crystal-clear rivers nurturing all living beings on earth."

"M-M" = "Man (Manchus)" http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Brazil-to-Congo-Republic-of/Man-Manchus.html "Folklore"

"MMO" = "Mythology of the Manchu Origin" http://www.lw23.com/pdf_e0547090-7686-4d0e-9a7e-56e383f65801/lunwen.pdf [pdf]

p. 247 significance of shaman’s accoutrements

the shaman’s __

repraesenteth __

drum

the universe

skirt

clouds

waist-bells

thundre & wind

bird (raven) atop the headdress

"ability to fly in the universe so that the shaman could act as messenger between the human world and the other worlds"

drum-stick

"the ‘cosmological horse’; and different beats of drumming symbolize the pace of the cosmological flying."

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IV.10 (pp. 249-57) Guo Shuyun : "Social Functions of the Man^u Shaman".

p. 249 symbolic significations of animals depicted on the drums of Manc^u shamans

depiction

its meaning

frog

lake

lizard

nest

"flying eagle"

sky

earthworm

"wet soil"

sun

light

half-moon

"the slightly black"

"eagle without a head"

"being scattered"

"a star at dawn"

"the dark night"

"a tree lying on the ground"

hurricane

"a black stone"

starvation

"naked person squatting down"

"the bitter cold"

p. 250 Olunc^un shaman’s costume

"The shaman costume of the Olunchun was almost always made of elk or deer skin. Patterns of clouds, flowers, fish, deer and other birds were embroidered on the front, and patterns of peach blossoms on the back. Leather with patterns of the sun, moon and stars was sewn on the sleeves. A rectangular cloud pattern were embroidered at the waist."

p. 251 materials whereof solid repraesentations of deities are composed

deities depicted

material of depiction

tribe

many kinds of gods

carven on birch bark

Manc^u

thunder-deities

carven on wood

Olunc^un

star-deities

" "

Manc^u

bird-deities

?

Dahur

squirrel-deities

squirrel-skins

Evenki

tortoise- & snake-deities

pottery

Manc^u

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IV.11 (pp. 258-88) Miha`ly Hoppa`l : "Studies in Eurasian Shamanism".

p. 262 Nanasan shamanic melodies

"the shaman’s helping spirits, have their own distinctive melodies, which the shaman has to sing during the shamanic ritual (mostly at the beginning and end). During a se’ance, the appearance of the helping spirit ... was signalled precisely by the start of a particular melody or a change in the rhythm of the drum." {In West Africa, each possessing-spirit is likewise accompanied by a particular drum-rhythm.}

p. 266 Korean types of professional shamans

"(1) ‘great shamans’ called tekam, who are chosen by superior spirits, are capable of journeys to the upper world. {In Siberia and elsewhere, this is done during peculiar dreams.} ...

(2) Female shamans, called mudang, who, in the course of kut ceremonies, establish contact with their helping spirits to the accompaniment of drums while in a trance state.

(3) pansu shamans are men, whose powers are restricted to the performance of magic incantations."

p. 270 Buryat sacred mountain

"there is, on the western shore of Lake Baykal, a mysterious sacred mountain called Yord. It fame stems from the Buryat traditions of having all clans come here at the beginning of summer to celebrate the onset of summer, to say prayer and make sacrifice to their supreme gods, the creator Aya {whose name may be derived from Skt. /Ayasya/} and his wife, Yord the mother earth. ... The appropriate sacrificial ceremony and prayers recited by the white shamans were followed by an en masse popular feast (‘naadan’), whose principal element was the dancing round of the Yord Mountain – the ‘Yoohor’ line dance. ...

Dugarov states that the word ‘Yord’ cannot be explained from Turkic-Mongol languages; presumably, it is a loanword which, in Scandanavian mythology, is the name of the earth goddess. This goddess is the wife of the supreme creator deity, Odin, and is, concurrently, the mother of the god of thunder" [To`rr]."

{This Norse name is praesumably borrowed, as is so much of Norse religious vocabulary, from <arabi (and proto-S^emitic) />ARD./ (with final /d./ a retroflex) ‘earth’ : the derivation in Mongolian may be directly from S^emitic, rather than via Norse; much as Mongolian /tengeri/ ‘god’ is derived from Sumerian /dingir/ ‘god’. Since the Mongolian shamanic worship is directed toward Ahura Mazda, the Mongolian shamanic complex may be an imported Zaratustrian complex entailing not only Persian but also Sumerian and S^emitic elements – that sort of complex was praevalent in Iran during the Arsakid-through-Sassanian era.}

p. 273 KirGiz shamanic functions

"The Kirghis call the shaman bakshi. In the 1960s, they were still practicing privately. They were black (kara bakshi) and white (ak bakshi) shaman[s] and also female shamans (bubu bakshi or bubu). ... Modern ethnographical fieldwork projects have shown that the bakshis were mainly successful in treating psychological maladies – disorders caused by an azhina, as it is called in Kirghiz, an ‘evil spirit’. The epic mentions the rattle pipe (anzhay mor) used by the shamans and the pointed cap (kula) {cf. <arabi & European conical ‘wizard’s hat’}, which were all accessories of the bakshis."

p. 273 Sah^a (Yakut) religious singing

"The minstrel or epic singer (olonkhohut) and the shaman (oiuun) performed two distinct functions in Sakha society, so that a combination of the two was an exception. The sung recital of the heroic epic, the Olokho, and the musical part of the shamanic rituals were radically different from one another."

pp. 274-5 Nanasan jamada

p. 274

"The Nganasan use the word djamada {cognate with the name of JAMAD-agni the father of Paras`u-Rama?} to denote the helping spirits of the shaman ... . "Every djamada has its own song, which is its marker, enabling participants of the shamanic seaance to unmistakeably recognize it. We find seven difference melodies ..., including the song of

the Female Bear,

the Hotare (loon),

Djau-mali (the spirit of ‘The Big Mountains’),

Kadja-koptua (Thunder-Girl?),

Djali-nemi (the mother of the day), and others. ...""

p. 275

"the most melodically varied part is the first half of the seance (when the shaman collects the helping spirits), where "the djamada songs have a single function – namely, to signal by sound the appearing helping spirits. ... the melodies of particular djamadas are different with regard to melodic structure and rhythm, making them easy to distinguish ... . ... The Nganasan distinguish, by means of intonation, between the onomatopoeic signals of the shamanic djamadas and the hunting signals. ...""

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INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR TRANSOCEANIC RESEARCH BOOKS, Vol. 5 = Miha`ly Hoppa`l & Keith Howard : Shamans and Cultures. Akade`miai Kiado`, Budapest, 1993. [1st CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR SHAMANISTIC RESEARCH, held in 1991 at Seoul.]