Koryak, Ritual mask, 1930s. Wood, sinew, 30.7 x 16 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Kamchatka.
“The drum has the power of transporting the shaman to the superworld and of evoking spirits by its sounds.”
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.
It is important to pay great attention to the shaman’s accessories. Though they have probably only attracted notice because of their picturesque characteristics, yet their descriptions are very valuable in view of the modern attempt to reach the primitive mind through its symbolical forms of expression.
The following items are 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 tadibey 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 for the shamans of northern Altai, who wear one round the forehead to keep the hair out of their eyes.
These four accessories - the coat, the mask, the cap, and the iron plate - are used by the Neo-Siberians 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.
In the Evenki shaman’s costume, over the usual shamanistic garment an apron, adorned with iron, is also worn; his stockings, likewise remarkable, are made of skin 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. Iron and copper objects seem also to be especially associated with the Neo-Siberians.
The whole costume with its appurtenances used during shamanistic performances throughout Siberia has a threefold significance: The shaman wishes to make a profound impression on the eyes of the people by the eccentricity of his costume. The ringing of the bells and the noise of the drum impress their sense of hearing. Finally, 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 Shamanism.
But this interpretation does not bring out the whole importance of the relation of these objects to the spiritual world. They are of great importance, for the spirits will not bear the voice of the shaman unless the right dress and implements 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 who have the right to wear manyak (the coat) and the owl-skin cap.
Among the Yakut even the blacksmith who undertakes the ornamentation of the costume, must have inherited the right. If the blacksmith who makes a shamanistic ornament has not a sufficient number of ancestors, if he 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 reason the blacksmith’s vocation comes next in importance to the shaman’s. In modern times it is practically impossible among the Yakut for the shaman’s coat to be made, since there is now no class of hereditary blacksmiths. There is an instance of a shaman who had no cap because the old one was burnt and the spirits would not grant him a new one. Many Buryat shamans do not possess drums, since the spirits withold permission to make them, and two long sticks which are struck crosswise against each other are therefore substituted at the performance.
With the degeneration of Shamanism, the number of people who know bow to prepare the sacred instrument, the drum, 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 care 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 consecration 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.
Chukchi, Pipe for smoking tobacco during public gatherings, late 19th-early 20th century.
Wood, antler, dressed reindeer skin, sealskin, reindeer underneck hair, metal, 87.5 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Primorskaya Oblast, Anadyr Krai.
Koryak, Pipe, 1906. Walrus tusk ivory, 14.2 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography,
St. Petersburg. Primorskaya Oblast, Anadyr Krai.
Koryak, Pipe, fragment, 1906. Walrus tusk ivory, 14.2 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography,
St. Petersburg. Primorskaya Oblast, Anadyr Krai.
Koryak, Man’s holiday trousers, front view, 1909-1911.
Seal hide and undercoat, alder-tree bark, fabric, reindeer underneck hair,
sealskin, 101 x 48 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Kamchatka.
Koryak, Man’s holiday trousers, back view, 1909-1911.
Seal hide and undercoat, alder-tree bark, fabric, reindeer underneck hair,
sealskin, 101 x 48 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Kamchatka.
The Chukchi.
Among Palaeo-Siberians there are no strict regulations as to the shape and quality of the shaman’s dress. Originality of costume is what is most sought after, and the Chukchi shamans sometimes adopt some old coat brought from the American shore. The Chukchi have nothing similar to the well-known type of coat covered with fringes and images, which is in general use among the Yakut and Evenki, and which probably was borrowed from the latter by the Yukaghir and perhaps also by the Itelmen.
The absence of a peculiar shaman’s dress among the Chukchi may be accounted for by the fact that the shamans perform 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 shamanize with the upper part of the body quite naked.
The only shamanistic garments elsewhere are a coat and a cap. Among several neighbouring tribes also, female shamans have no outward distinguishing mark, nor do they use the special shamanistic garb which is assigned only to the male shamans.
The custom among certain tribes of the adoption by the male shaman of the clothes and manner of a woman appears still more strange. The shamanistic coat is characterized by 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.
But if we remember the many other ways in which the Chukchi shaman imitates the Evenki shaman, we may conclude that both slits and fringes in the shamanistic coat are but another instance of the same imitation. Some garments feature an image of tetkeyun, 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 rekken, 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 remedy against headache.
In addition to these garments, the Chukchi 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 leather images fastened to it. One was said to represent a kele 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 lumetun. The third image represented a crawling ‘spell’ sent by an enemy of the shaman, who interecpted it on the way and thoroughly subdued it so that it began to do his bidding. These different amulets, 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 Chukchi, 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 important object in shamanistic performances all over Siberia is the drum. Thus the Chukchi use the drum which is common to both Asiatic and American Eskimo. The drum used by the reindeer-herding and coastal Chukchi is different from that adopted in north-western Asia by the Yakut, Evenki, Koryak, Itelmen, 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 hand 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 Chukchi drum has a wooden handle which is lashed with sinews to the wooden hoop. The diameter of the hoop, which is nearly circular in shape, measures 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 this cord are fastened to the handle. The drum is very light, weighing from half a pound to a pound and a half. The drumstick 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 hoop 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.
Evenki, Shaman tambourine, early 20th century. Leather, wood, metal, beads, 95 x 50 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Siberian Krai. Krasnoyarsk Okrug, Turukhan District, the Nizhni (Lower) Tunguska river basin.
The Koryak.
The shaman accessories of the Koryak, another Palaeo-Siberian tribe, are described as follows: The Koryak shamans have no drums of their own; they use the drums belonging to the family in whose house the shamanistic performance takes place. It seems that they wear no special dress; many shamans wear ordinary clothing.
One embroidered jacket is very much like the ordinary man’s dancing-jacket used during the whale ceremony, but more elaborate. The Koryak drum, yyai, is oval in shape and covered with reindeer-hide on one side only, its diameter being 73 centimetres. The drum-stick is made of thick whalebone, wider at the end with which 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 below 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. This custom of attaching the rattle has been borrowed from the Evenki and not all Koryak drums possess it.
Yukaghir, Hat of a “transformed” shaman, detail, 1900-1901.
Reindeer skin, hair embroidery, dyed seal pup fur tassels, sinew, 91 cm.
American Museum of Natural History, New York. Markovo.
Yukaghir, Shaman’s hat, 1907. Reindeer skin,
dyed seal pup fur, beads, fabric, dog fur, brass, hair embroidery, 61 cm.
American Museum of Natural History, New York.
Manjagir, Shaman outfit, front view, late 19th-early 20th century. Elk leather, fur, velveteen, plastic buttons, metal, seal skin, fabric, beads, seed beads, felt, Caftan: 104 cm; Collar; 57 x 36 cm; Head gear: 20 x 21 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Dalnevostochni (Far-Eastern) Krai, the Zeya river basin.
Manjagir, Shaman outfit, back view, late 19th-early 20th century. Elk leather, fur, velveteen, plastic buttons, metal, seal skin, fabric, beads, seed beads, felt, Caftan: 104 cm; Collar; 57 x 36 cm; Head gear: 20 x 21 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Dalnevostochni (Far-Eastern) Krai, the Zeya river basin.
Chukchi, Appliances for making fire by friction with a bunch
of family charms, 1896. Wood, leather, reindeer sinews, 58 x 11 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Chukchi Peninsular.
Yakut, Flapper for fanning mosquitoes away, 1908. Wolverine fur, wood, beads,
metal, beads, leather, Length: 50 cm; length of handle: 13 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Yakut Oblast, Vilyuy Okrug.
Evenki, Mallet for shaman’s tambourine, early 20th century.
Wood, bear fur, metal, 39.5 x 4-5 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography,
St. Petersburg. Siberian Krai, Krasnoyarsk Okrug,
Turukhan District, the Nizhni (Lower) Tunguska river basin.
The Itelmen (Itelmen).
Among the Itelmen there is apparently no shamanistic garment or drum. Everybody, especially women, can shamanize, and hence this occupation is not professional enough to demand a special dress.
The Yukaghir.
The Yukaghir drum is a rough oval. It is covered with hide on one side only. 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 Gilyak.
The most important accessories of the Gilyak shaman are the drum, kas, and the shaman’s girdle, yangpa. First of all the drum is heated by the fire, to make the hide taut, so that the sound might be more sonorous. The drum is made of the skin of a goat or reindeer, and while it is being prepared, the shaman makes himself ready. He takes off his outer garment, puts on the so-called koska, a short apron, and ties round his head a band of grass, the end of which hangs over his shoulders like a tress of hair. Then he takes 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 yangpa. Its chief pendant is a large copper disk with a small handle ornamented in relief, showing Manchu influence; this circle, called tole, makes the most important sound. There are also many iron links called tasso, and many irregular pieces of iron called kyire, which make a very loud noise; a few rolled iron plates called kongoro, and, finally, some small copper bells without tongues, called kongokto. When the girdle is put on all these objects hang together at the back. This shamanistic girdle is of considerable weight.
Although the Gilyak belong to the Palaeo-Siberians, the metal accessories seem to be of Evenki origin, as are some other features of their culture. We learn from a description of the costume of an Evenki 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 Evenki, or vice versa.
Among the Neo-Siberians, their entire philosophy of life is represented symbolically in the drum, and great significance is also attached to various parts of their dress.
Yukaghir, Small bag for woman’s fancy-work tools, 1982. Swan leg skin,
beads, woolen cloth, 21 x 13 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography,
St. Petersburg. Yakut ASSR, Verkhnekolyma District, Nelemni village.
Yakut, Head adornment, 1903. Silver, fabric, beads, 97 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Yakut Oblast.
Evenki, Shaman’s clothing. Metal, skin, and feathers.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg.
The Yakut.
Among the Yakut even those who, like the blacksmith, help in the adornment of the shaman’s garment occupy a half-magical position, being credited with ‘peculiar fingers.’ The hereditary blacksmiths have tools with ‘souls,’ ichchylakh, which can give out sounds of their own accord. The blacksmiths are those who approach most nearly to the shaman in their office, and are, in a way, related to them. “The blacksmith and the shaman are of one nest,” says a proverb of the Kolyma district. “The smith is the elder brother of the shaman.” 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 will not shamanize until the blacksmith had removed his case of metal instruments, and even then attributes his bad luck to them: “The spirits are afraid of the blacksmith and that is why they do not appear at my call.”
The shaman’s dress 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 back. 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 arnong 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, tünür, tüngür, the term for the shaman’s coat varies: kumu, ereni, manyak. This seems to show that the ceremonial coat is a comparatively newer invention than the ceremonial drum.
What follows is an account of the meaning of the coat ornamentation. A good shaman’s dress requires about 35 to 40 pounds of iron. 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-ichchite.
1. Küngeta (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.
2. Oibon-Künga (hole-in-the-ice sun), a disk of the same shape and size as the first, but with a larger hole in the middle. It hangs above or below the first plate on a long leather strap.
3. Kondei kyhan, rolls of tin about the size of a thumb, but longer, banging at the back on the metal rings or loops.
4. Chilliryt kyhan, 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 tipper part a drawing of a fish’s head. They are tied to the leather straps or to the metal loops.
6. Biirgüne, two round flat disks, similar to those which adorn the woman’s cap, tuskata, but without any design on them; they are tied like an epaulet on the shaman’s shoulders.
7. Oiogos timiria, two plates about the breadth of four fingers and a little shorter, fastened on both sides of the body.
8. Tabytaua, two long plates two fingers broad, which are fastened to both sleeves.
9. Ämägyat, abagyta ämätiat (in many places called emchet), 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 without danger to himself from the spirits, make an ämägyat, a copper plate such as has been described, which the shaman, when he begins to shamanize, hangs on his breast. What exactly ämägyat 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 ämägyat is used in the double sense of an invisible power and of a visible symbol. In this chapter we shall confine ourselves to the latter. The absence of ämägyat differentiates the less important shamans, called kenniki oyuun, from those who possess it and who are known as orto oyaun. The power of those in partial possession of ämägyat varies according to ‘the strength of their ämägyat.’ The great shamans are said to be those whose spirit-protector was sent them by Ulu-Toyen himself (ämägyatitiah ulytoër ulutoënton ongorulah).
The shaman implores the assistance of his ämägyat and of other protecting spirits, and it is only when the ämägyat 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 ämägyat seeks to re-embody itself in someone belonging to the same clan (aya-usa).
The human body cannot endure the continuous presence of a power equal to that of the great gods; hence this spirit-protector (if ämägyat 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 ämägyat. Possession of the ämägyat does not in any way depend upon the shaman; it comes either by an accident or by a decree from above. Tiuspiut obtained his ämägyat (of Evenki origin) quite accidentally.
The great shamans at death take their ämägyat with them, and thus change into heavenly beings, most of whom are ex-shamans; if the ämägyat does not depart in this way, then sooner or later it will show itself on the earth. The most important ornament of the Yakut shaman’s coat is ämägyat, which represents a man. On some coats there is an ämägyat on the left side made of molten copper. On orther coats ämägyat were on both sides of the breast and made of tin.
Speaking of the preparatory stage of the shaman, it is noteworthy that the Yakut shaman is taught by an older shaman, who initiates him by suspending round his neck the ämägyat.
In the Mongolian language, ämägäldzi signifies the figure of the protective genius of the house, family, and goods, and is made of tin. This word is derived from ämägän, grandmother.
10. Balyk-timir (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. Choran, 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 bytyrys (the weed).
Aleut, Woman’s cloak, 1912. Grass-wrack, woolen yarn,
74 x 46 cm and 181 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography,
St. Petersburg. Aleutian Islands, Umnak Island.
Koryak, Snow-flapper for ‘shaking down sins’ from the deceased person, 1956.
Argali horn, 43.5 x 5.5 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography,
St. Petersburg. Kamchatka Oblast, Tigilskiy District, Sedanka village.
Koryak, Small plastic artworks ‘Shaman with the eagle as a spirit-protector’ and ‘Shaman with the animal as a spirit-protector’, 1903. Walrus tusk ivory, Heights: 1) 6.8 cm 2) 7.8 cm; Dimensions of supports: 1) 4.4 x 3 cm 2) 3.8 x 2.5 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. 1) Primorskaya Oblast, Gizhiginski Okrug; 2) Kamchatka Oblast.
Eskimo, ‘Winged object’ and handle, 3rd-4th century AD.
Walrus tusk ivory, 1) 6.2 cm 2) 13.7 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Chukchi Peninsular.
The coat fastens on the breast with leather straps, and under the chin with a buckle in the form of a colt’s tongue (kulun tyl kurduk). On the front of the coat are sewn figures of animals, birds, fishes; various 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 wears the woman’s sangyniah, a coat of calf’s skin, with the hair outside, on the feet of which are occasionally hung some of the most important iron accessories, like the two ‘suns’ (or sun and moon), the fish and the bürgüne; sometimes two round circles, which represent the breasts, are hung in the front.
Among the Yakut, white and black shamans have different coats. The coat of the white shaman has no animal pictures on it, because his spirit-protectors belong to the aiy (good spirits), which are not symbolized by animal pictures. The coat of the black shaman should not have representations of the sun, for these are peculiar to white shamans.
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.
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 resembling the sacrificial animal of the real shaman. The significance 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 ämägyat of the Yakut, if we are to take ämägyat as the symbol of the shaman’s ancestor.
The skeleton which often figures on the shaman’s coat must probably also be ascribed to the shaman’s ancestor, for quite near it are usually sewed hawks’ wings, and none but a shaman can fly or be represented by wings.
Yukaghir story-teller – despite being a woman,
renowned for her hunting prowess and her artistic skills.
Markovians, Wall carpet, 1910. Reindeer fur, 236 x 219 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg.
Kamchatka Oblast, Chukchi Okrug, Markovo village.
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 ämägyat, and the skeleton. It would be interesting to know, however, whether or not the ämägyat is to be found side by side with either of the other symbols. If so, it is possible that ämägyat is not a symbol of the ancestor spirit, but has a meaning of its own. On the Yakut coat the skeleton exists independent of ämägyat. On the Altaian coats, the doll is found side by side with the ämägyat.
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. 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.
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.
Another interpretation of the coat is that the picture of a perforated sun and a half-moon represents the dusk which reigns in the kingdom of the spirits. The strange animals, fishes, and birds which hang on the coat indicate 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.
The shaman wears his magical coat next his skin, and receives it from the hand of a kuluruksuta (page or assistant), whose duty it is to shout during the performance: seb! kirdik! choo! o o! (well! true! choo! o o!), and who helps the shaman in other ways, such as preparing the drum.
The drum is always egg-shaped, and is covered with the bide 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. Sometimes there are twelve raised representations of horns on the drum, while in other cultures, 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 the rim, especially in the places where the straps are fastened.
Among the Yakut, there are two names for the drum, tünür and donkür. The Yakut of Viluy, in addition to the tünür (drum), have also a stringed instrument, dünür.
Besides the drum, the shaman uses two other musical instruments, one of which is a stringed instrument like the Russian balalaika (a kind of banjo), the other an instrument like that known as a Jew’s 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 Buryat from Irkutsk, this instrument is called khur, and is used only by the shamans. This is also true of the Uriankhai. The Soïot call it komus, but the Altaians (using the term in the narrowest sense), who also have the word komus, use it to designate the stringed instrument resembling the Russian balalaika, which only shamans play. The Kirgis call the shaman’s drum kobuz. The Altaians use the two-stringed kabys or komus 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.
Koryak, Ritual mask, 1911. Dressed reindeer skin, fabric, walrus tusk ivory,
27 x 22 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Kamchatka.
Chukchi, ‘Boards of conjuration’ for performing of
rites at holidays, fragment, 1904-1907. Wood, paint, 62.2 x 10 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Chukchi Peninsular.
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 manyak, 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 or a small bow and arrow to frighten hostile spirits. On the back and sometimes on the front of the coat there are sewed two copper disks. One kam (shaman) had four empty tobacco-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 kam had seven little dolls on his collar, which 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 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 bangs 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 manyak and the owlskin cap. The spirits generally announce to the chosen man when he may wear them.
Among the Tartars of Chern the shaman wears a mask (kocho), with squirrels’ tails for eyebrows and moustaches. Among the same people one might observe the use of two crutches; one of them is a crook, the other is supposed to be a horse, similar to the horse-staves of the Buryat.
All the drums which we see among the natives of Altai and north-western Mongolia are round in shape. The Tartars of Chern have oval drums resembling the egg-shaped drum of the east Siberians.
The Altai drum has a hoop as large as the palm of one’s hand, covered on one side with hide. Inside the drum there is a vertical wooden stick and a horizontal iron chord with rattles 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 krish, and from it hang various iron rattles called kungru. The number of kungru varies according to the ability of the shaman. It is a guide to the quantity of chayu possessed by the shaman, since the more chayu the shaman possesses, the more kungru are found in his drum.
Under the chin of the figure on the wooden bar are fastened long strips of gaudy material called yauasua.
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, krish, 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.
Koryak, Man’s burial outfit, front view, 1904-1911. Reindeer hide and leg fells, dog fur, seal skin and undercoat, alder-tree bark, reindeer underneck hair, Parka: 98 x 94 cm; Trousers: 86 cm; Shoe soles: 23 cm; Height of boot: 17cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Dalnevostochni (Far-Eastern) Krai, Kamchatka Okrug.
Koryak, Man’s burial outfit, back view, 1904-1911. Reindeer hide, dog fur, seal undercoat and skin, alder-tree bark, reindeer underneck hair, 98 x 94 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Dalnevostochni (Far-Eastern) Krai, Kamchatka Okrug.
Evenki, Shaman tambourine, fragment, early 20th century. Leather, wood,
metal, beads, 95 x 50 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Siberian Krai.
Krasnoyarsk Okrug, Turukhan District, the Nizhni (Lower) Tunguska river basin.
The Buryat.
An example of the Buryat shaman’s costume belonged to a female shaman, who was accompanied 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 surrounded by small bells. From the back of the shoulders reaching 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.
Also worth describing is a costume of another old and revered female shaman near Selenginsk. Her costume was hanging in her yurt, but, according to her account, was not complete. Among other things, there was a box, full of strips of cloth, small stones, thunderbolts, which she used for magical purposes.There was also a felt bag full of various felt idols.
The coat (orgoy), the cap, and the horse-staves morini-khörbö are the chief appartenances of a shaman in these communities.
The orgoy 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.
The old-fashioned orgoy was shorter than that of the present day. The front of the coat is covered with metal figures of horses, fishes, birds. The back is covered with twisted iron representing snakes, with rattles hanging from them (shamshorgo), 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.
The cap, which is peaked, 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-hoops crossing each other, above which is an iron plate with two born-like projections.
In the place where the intersecting hoops are tied to the hoop round the head, there are three groups of khoubokho, or kholbogo, conical weights of iron. From the back of the hoop hangs an iron chain composed of four links and ending in small objects resembling a spoon and an awl.
This cap is sort of 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 which hangs down from the nape of the neck to the heels.
The horse-staves (morini-khorbo) 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, khoubokho, or kholbogo, blue, white, 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.
It is in the drum that the horse, on which the shaman makes his flight, is symbolized. This drum is covered with horse-hide fastened to the back with leather straps. However, the drum, khese, is very little known among the Buryat, who substitute the horse-staves for it, and the little bell is sometimes also called khese; 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.
Koryak woman in the process of making welcome the spirit-masters of the
semi-domesticated reindeer at the traditional autumn festival of Koryak reindeer-herders.
The next accessory of the shaman is the khur, a ‘tuning-fork,’ with a wire tongue between the two side-pins, an implement largely in use among shamanists. It may be met with 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.
The Olkhon Buryat 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 shire is used to hold horse-staves, drums, and other ritual implements. The shaman acquires the right of carrying the shire after the fifth consecration. It is asserted, that with every new consecration up to the ninth, the height and other dimensions of the shire increase.
There are two other articles worth mentioning: abagaldey, a monstrous mask of skin, wood, and metal, painted, and ornamented with a great beard; and toli, a metal looking-glass with representations of twelve animals on it, which is hung round the neck and worn on the breast; sometimes it is sewed on the shaman’s coat.
Occasionally the Buryat shaman has also a whip with bells, but generally all these implements have tended to disappear in modern times.
Two other ethical and linguistic groups, which, although they live only partly in Siberia, yet belong to the Neo-Siberians, are the Samoyed and the Finnic tribes, and a survey of their shaman accessories is of special interest in connexion with those of the Mongolic, Turkic, and Evenki shamans.
The most important belonging of a tadibey (Samoyed shaman) is his penzer (drum), which he prepares according to a special set of rules. He must kill a male reindeer-calf with his own hands, and prepare the skin in such a way that no veins are left on it. In these preparations inka (i. e. a woman), being considered unclean, cannot assist.
The drums, which are ornamented with metal disks and plates, and covered with transparent reindeer hide, are round in shape and of various sizes. The largest drum was nearly two feet in diameter and two and a half inches in height.
The drums of the Samoyed and of the Ob-Ostyak are like the Altai drums, round, broadrimmed, covered on one side only, and with a diameter of from 30 cm to 50 cm.
The shaman’s costume consists of a chamois-leather coat called samburzia, ornamented with red cloth. Eyes and face are covered with a piece of cloth, since the tadibey is supposed to penetrate into the spirit-world with his inner sight. Instead of a cap there are two bands round his head to keep the cloth over the face in position. An iron disk hangs on his breast.
In certain places the tadibey uses a cap with a visor, and over the leather coat jingling trinkets and little bells and strips of cloth of various shades are hung. In this ornamentation the number seven plays an important role.
