24.
Shamans Charm Game
American anthropologist Willard Z. Park lived with the Paviotso (or Northern Paiute) people of western Nevada in the early 1930’s and studied their shamanism. Then he wrote a book called Shamanism in Western North America. Here Park describes how “antelope shamans” charm game. Park got his information from old people who had memories of conversations with antelope shamans from the previous generation. Park arrived one generation too late to learn the fine detail of the shaman’s role in hunting. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Paviotso were no longer hunting antelope, because their lands had all been taken up by white ranchers.
The antelope-drive is called by a shaman who has the antelope spirit as power. He first sends out scouts to find a herd of antelope, but if anyone sees a herd he may go to an antelope shaman and tell him where the animals are. Some shamans are said to find the antelope herds simply by dreaming. In the spring, when food supplies are exhausted, there is often a strong public demand for the antelope shaman to exercise his power.
When the herd of antelope has been found, the procedure is first to build a corral of sagebrush-bark rope under the direction of the antelope shaman at a place which he has previously selected. . . . When the rope has been prepared beforehand, the corral can be finished in a day. That night a dance is held either at the camp established near by or within the corral. Apparently there is not a fixed rule for the length of the dance: several said that it lasts only a few hours, others that it is not over until morning. In the latter event, the dancers go out at daylight to drive in the antelope. During the dance the shaman sings his antelope-songs, goes into a trance, or otherwise performs in order to charm the antelope and make them docile when they are driven into the corral.
Music for the singing and dancing in the charming rite is frequently provided by rubbing a rasp made by wrapping a bow-string around a piece of horn. The notched-stick rasp was reported by two informants. Several others told of rubbing an arrow across a taut bow-string to provide musical accompaniment for the singing and dancing. The rattles customarily employed in the curing ceremony seem never to be used in charming antelope. . . .
Men, women, and children participate in the antelope-drive. Only women who are pregnant or menstruating are excluded. It is believed that the presence of a woman in either of these conditions causes the antelope to break through the corral fence and escape. Several informants said that the husbands of menstruating and pregnant women were also prohibited from taking part in the drive.
When the antelope shaman calls people together for a drive, he warns them about their behavior. Sexual intercourse among the married is forbidden during the several days required to build the corral. The tabu on sexual relations lasts until the antelope have been slaughtered. It is also forbidden for young people to flirt. People participating in the drive are not supposed to relieve themselves anywhere near the fence of the corral. The loss of any personal property within the corral is believed to weaken the fence; consequently everyone is warned to watch personal possessions carefully. These rules and prohibitions are not in force during the communal hunts held for other game. . . .
It is clear that the antelope shaman’s performance has an important place in the shamanistic complex of the Paviotso. But as has been pointed out, the charming of game through the exercise of the shaman’s power is confined entirely to the antelope-drive. The plan of procedure is highly variable, but the basic belief in the control of the antelope by supernatural power is clear. Antelope-charming, then, is the one well-recognized function of the shaman which is not a part of the all-pervading belief in curing. In fact, it is the only important shamanistic performance of the Paviotso that is not heavily charged with beliefs about the cause and control of disease.