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Shamans of the Siberian EskimosAuthor(s): Tassan S. Tein, Demitri B. Shimkin and Sergei KanSource: Arctic Anthropology, Vol. 31, No. 1 (1994), pp. 117-125Published by: University of Wisconsin PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40316353 .

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SHAMANS OF THE SIBERIAN ESKIMOS

TASSAN S. TEIN Translation and Introduction by Demitri B. Shimkin

with additional translation by Sergei Kan

Introduction

Shamans of the Siberian Eskimos

Abstract The Siberian Eskimos, all Yup'ik speakers, numbered about 1300 in 1983. They were scattered among coastal villages of Chukotka. These people were active shamanists until the 1930s and many still hold a corresponding world view, which is communicated in this essay by a Native ethnographer in his 50s. It comprises an In- troduction (by the translator) and six sections: (1) shamanistic types and numbers, (2) social roles of shamans, (3) death and divination, (4) spirits, (5) sorcery, and (6) the Soviet period.

This essay is an edited version of an earlier publication (Tein 1976). It describes Siberian Eskimo shamanistic institutions and practices in detail. It analyzes this shamanism both as a pervasive mech- anism of sociocultural integration and as a major source of exploitation and conflict. Its author, Tassan S. Tein, is a Siberian Eskimo man, now in his 50s, who has become an ethnographer of his people, writing on ritual (Tein 1975, 1977) and on folklore. He has also conducted archaeological excavations of early Eskimo sites on Wrangel Island.

In the scanty literature on the Siberian Es- kimo, special note must be taken of G. Menov- shchikov's contributions, particularly the chapter on religion in his excellent ethnographic mono- graph (1959; in shorter form, 1956). Also important is Rubtsova's (1971) ethnographic dictionary. Bogoraz' studies (1913, 1919) have continuing value. For an overview of Siberian Eskimo de- mography and economics in 1934, when the old culture was being extinguished, see Orlova (1941).

Acknowledgments. In translating this paper, important help was given by colleagues at the University

of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Slavic Li- brary and the Departments of Anthropology and Geography were particularly involved.

Who Were the Shamans? Among the Eskimos, shamans [angalkuq, in the Naukan dialect; alignalghii, in the Chaplino) were both males and females. These shamans were di- vided into three types: strong, intermediate, and weak according to their influence upon the psy- ches of the people close to them. The activities of the strong shamans were more widespread and diversified than those of the intermediate or weak ones, who were subordinate to them.

In the village of Naukan almost every patrician had its own shaman. Shamans of the patricians played a large role in the conduct of social affairs. Such shamans were regarded as strong. But the principal shaman came from the patrician of the village elder or nunalek. The elder's land was inherited from those who established the settlement. He had the right and obligation to oversee all religious cults of village-wide significance, and

Tassan S. Tein, Northwest Complex, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 16 Portovaya St., Magadan, Russia 685000

Sergei Kan, Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755

ARCTIC ANTHROPOLOGY Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 117-125, 1994



118 Arctic Anthropology 31:1

to watch over order. Without the consent of the nunalek, no one could move to a new, permanent house site in the village.

In Naukan settlement, the nunalek belonged to the Imtug'miit patrician. According to tradi- tion, this patrician founded the settlement. When- ever disputes arose between other patricians and members of Imtug'miit, the decisive word belonged to the latter patrician. The Elder of Naukan settlement was also viewed as a representative of his patrician.

In the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries, there were ten patricians in Naukan: Imtu- g'miit, Sitkunag'miit, Mayur'er'miit, Ki'punnu- g'miit, Tugrag'miit, Uriixkog'miit, Mamrox'pag'miit, Uyag'ag'miit, Sagrag'miit, and Nunagg'miit. Strong shamans (in Naukan) numbered at least 11, in- cluding Piskilik, Lleqin, Lalàk, Ungoya, Ilanga, Yentu, Angqutak, Atukin, Uniqaya, Tenqelyan, Savlyuk (a woman), and others. In Chaplino village were Aivigaq, Amuya, and a female shaman, Tevlyanaun. On Ratmanov Island (Big Diomede) were Qi'ngaqsak and Ayuvan. On Wrangel Island, shamans arrived with Soviet settlement in 1926 (Ushakov 1973). They included Angalkug, Kmo, Tagyu, and Etuvgi.

A person might become a shaman in the following manner. A lone hunter in an uninhabited place would hear someone calling his name. He would hear mysterious voices - like someone singing. It was believed that at such times the spirits were seeking out their future intermediaries among living people. Sometimes the Eskimo would have a vision or dream in which he conversed with his future spirit helpers. The spirits could speak any language. In the vision, the spirits often appeared in the form of handsome people clothed like the living. Or the spirits might appear in the forms of killer whales, polar bears, ravens, ermines, or cranes. Commonly, a spirit would invite the hunter to become his (the spirit's) provider, feeding him with offerings. After such a dream, the hunter would begin to hear voices and songs performed by his future spirit helpers. Later, he would use these same songs to call his spirits.

After such a vision-laden dream, the hunter would consult a shaman and tell him of the vision he had. The shaman, with the help of his own spirits, would divine who had chosen this hunter to be an intermediary with the living.

Persons with symptoms of psychic distur- bance were also believed to be shamans. Such symptoms arose as a consequence of disasters, and sometimes due to illnesses such as epilepsy and neurasthenia.

Female shamans were believed to be stron- ger than men. According to Eskimo opinion, the relative strength of a male or female shaman was also expressed in the preservation of the teeth. The

incantations of a toothless shaman were thought to be the weakest. Strong, sharp teeth supposedly helped the shaman, lending him strength during shamanic seances. The cracks formed in damaged teeth accumulated food particles, giving rise to unpleasant odors from the person's mouth. In the presence of such an odor, a shaman's spirit helpers would disdain to visit their protector, who would then lose his powers. Shamans, in general, lost their powers in old age. This was expressed in their clothing. The aged wore white parkas, trousers, mittens, and boots - a symbol of both weak- ness and aging.

The main duties of shamans were to cure sick people, give protection from evil spirits, as- sure success in hunting, give timely divinations of family or community disasters, predict the success of the spring hunt, and provide short-term weather predictions. By interrogating his spirits, the shaman would predict events in the family, the patrician, and the settlement. Before address- ing his spirits with questions, the shaman would treat them with a sliver of reindeer meat, as a sacrifice. Having treated the spirits, the shaman would persuade them to maintain good fortune in the family and community, to help bring hunting luck, and to ward off possible disasters.

The Social Roles of Shamans The shaman was the most important member of his family. He named the newborn. If the child became ill, he changed its name, so that the spirits would not find it or would disdain coming to it. For this purpose, a name denoting something dirty or ill-smelling would be chosen. When grown, the recovered child would give his first catch to the shaman. While the shaman lived, this person always gave him part of his catch. In this way, the hunter was in lifetime debt to the shaman.

Curing was sometimes conducted with the aid of spirits. The shaman invited them to come to a patient's body to remove the ailment. Some- times curing proceeded with the help of a drumstick. The shaman would drive the illness from the patient's body by waving the drumstick over the sick place. The waving of the drumstick was directed toward the yaranga (or house) exit, so that the illness would be removed from the person and driven from the dwelling in which it was found. There was also a simpler procedure. The shaman would blow on the sick place, guiding the flow of air on the patient's body either in the direction of the yaranga exit or else toward the ventilation opening of the inner tent. In the latter case, the source of illness would fly out of the dwelling with the air.

During a funeral the shaman might take with him a person suffering from various ailments. When the deceased had been laid on the place prepared



Tein: Shamans of the Siberian Eskimos 119

for him, the patient would shake the illness from the patient's body onto that of the deceased. It was thought that in this way diseases would be transferred to the deceased.

Shamans often placed a fetish collar around the necks of recovering patients. These were made from pieces of ringed seal fur (Phoca hispida Schre- ber) and served to protect against evil spirits. At the same time the shaman changed the patient's name, so that the spirits who had caused the illness would be unable or afraid to approach him a second time. In one case, for example, a patient named Iqanga (etymology unknown) at birth was given the name Sapeghlluk (Heap of Garbage) after his illness.

After recovery from illness, patients hung the outer parka belt with figurines of killer whales, ringed seals, ravens, etc., which were viewed as guardians against evil spirits. Such figurines were also hung on women's baggy suits (qallivak). In addition, fetishes were placed in the dwellings of patients to protect them and the dwellings against the possible entry of evil spirits. These fetishes were designed to protect against various diseases. Representations of wolverines, wolves, ravens, and ermines also served as fetishes. They were made from reindeer or ribbon seal hide, but in a compulsory, distorted form. In addition, there were family fetishes (tunghialkutat). These were permanent, thought to be inherited from generation to generation in the male line. These hereditary fetishes were granted the role of protectors of the yaranga against evil supernatural powers. They were represented as human figurines with an en- larged head and mouth, without arms or legs. Also, the skulls of polar bears and wolves which were either killed or found served as fetishes. The head of the household would feed these fetishes small pieces of meat from freshly killed game. To destroy these fetishes was categorically forbidden. A purposeful destruction of fetishes was, in Es- kimo belief, equivalent to the murder of one of the members of the patrician or of a family member where the fetish was found.

Death and Divination After a person's death, the shaman would divine the cause of his illness and death by interrogating the "sleeping" body. According to Eskimo belief, the most truthful indications in regard to future events were given by children's corpses, which were also interrogated.

For interrogation, the shaman would bind the head of the deceased with a strap, tying a stick, usually a drumstick, to the free end. Explanations of the causes of illness and death were given as though by the deceased himself. The shaman would present the questions, and raise the corpse's head with the free end of the stick. If the answer to a

posed question was affirmative, then the head would be easily raised by the shaman. If there was a denial, then the head would become heavy. No power could move it from the floor. Com- monly, many varied possibilities were offered on the cause of death. Perhaps relatives of the deceased had failed to perform obligatory rituals, not bringing offerings to their own spirits. There- fore, the spirits had punished them, seizing his (the deceased's) shadow (taghneghaq).

In interrogating the body of the deceased, there would be efforts to learn the future fate of his relatives. Would some one of them fall ill or die? If the deceased had died by acts of living people (i.e., someone had bewitched or poisoned him), then the relatives would advise the deceased to take vengeance upon the wrongdoer.

According to Eskimo beliefs, if the deceased in life was a good, honest, kind person, he would go to the heavens (sillamun ugtaquq), where all would be readied for him for a happy life without want in the Other World. But if the deceased had sinned against living people and caused them harm (for example, killed an innocent person), then he would fall to the Master of the Underground World (nunam asian yua). This meant that he would go to where living conditions were worst: constant hunger, much raw weather, very little water to drink, with the slightest infractions being punished by whiplashes. The whole interrogation procedure took place the night prior to the funeral, and in the presence of a small circle of relatives.

After the death of a shaman, no one was in a position to call up his spirits. But his drumstick continued to be used in the interrogation of both corpses and the living. Sometimes, one of a dead shaman's spirits, during the interrogation of the deceased, would come as though summoned. Later, this spirit would become the helper of one of the shaman's patrilineal relatives, usually his son. A shaman's drumstick passed from generation to generation also in the male line. This drumstick would serve as a protection of the dwelling against evil spirits. The shaman's drum would be broken and placed upon his grave during his funeral. (A broken object of a dead person was thought to become whole in the Other World.)

Hunting luck depended upon shamans. A hunter, on the shaman's advice, would give a prom- ise or make an oath to bring an offering to the Master of the Sea from his first catch. If the hunt was successful, it was judged that the Master of the Sea was pleased.

With the help of his spirit helpers, the shaman learned about impending misfortune in the family or in his community. It was his duty to foresee future disasters and to warn his relatives about them.

The Siberian Eskimos had many festivals of religious orientation: the whale festival (pualla), in




which the remains of a whale were returned to the sea (Tein 1975); a similar festival for the beluga (egsiaqut); the lowering of the baidara (an open, multiperson skin boat) into the water in the spring (qamigaqut) (Tein 1977); the initiation of adolescents as hunters1; and a festival celebrating the recovery of a sick person. Sometimes during an illness a patient would make a vow to sponsor athletic competitions with prizes (e.g., short-distance races) in which 8-10 persons volunteering from various patricians would compete. Those coming in first and last received prizes. All of these athletic competitions proceeded in the presence of the shaman, with his advice and instructions.

Compensation for shamans was acceptable only for curing. It depended upon the condition of the patient. The worse the patient felt, the higher the compensation. Usually it was paid in the skins of arctic foxes, wolverines (the most precious fur, by Eskimo account), foxes, polar bears, bearded seals, or ribbon seals, or with straps from sea mammal hides. Bearded seal straps were particularly valued, especially those used for dragging killed animals on the ice.

Not infrequently, the kinsfolk of a patient of poor family gave all their material wealth to the shaman. It was believed that the more lavishly the spirits were rewarded, the quicker the patient would recover. The father or uncle on either the paternal or maternal side would determine the compensation. If the patient did not recover after the shaman's first visit, the relatives had the right to call him again, and compensation still had to be given the shaman for such a return visit. Usu- ally the shaman claimed that the spirits allowed him to keep the compensation designated for them.

Eskimo shamans lacked special costumes. An exception was that of the weather prophets who, during the whale festival, clothed themselves in special ritual clothing. Usually the weather prophet was an elderly but very experi- enced hunter, the shaman of a patrician. He carried a wooden staff (ayaviik) with stripes of three colors: red, white, and black.

On the day of the whale festival, the weather prophet would dress very slowly, whispering incantations to promote a favorable outcome for the ritual. The word ayexti (weather prophet) has become an appellation in the Eskimo language for any procrastination in work. The shaman's cos- tume consisted of a parka sewn from fawn skins and decorated with fetish pendants representing various animals made in purposely hideous form to frighten off spirits. There were whale, polar bear, raven, and killer whale figurines. All, except that of the polar bear, were made from baleen. The polar bear was cut from a walrus tusk. The shaman's trousers were sewn from ribbon seal hides with stripes of reindeer chamois decorated with

floral ornaments. The boots were from white reindeer leg hides and were also decorated with floral ornaments. Thus, the weather prophet was imme- diately recognizable by his clothing and staff. During the festival only the village elder (nunalek) had the right to talk with him. Through that elder, prophesies of the weather for the next two or three days were transmitted to fellow villagers.

The shaman's drum was no different than the drums used by the Eskimos in their community dances. But the shaman's drumstick was thicker and more massive than a common one. It could be made from any kind of wood. The drum was played by striking the circular frame of the drum with the drumstick. The drum consisted of the frame with a handle of walrus tusk or reindeer antler. The drum handle was made in different families from various materials; it reflected no specific traditions. The drum was covered with the part of the walrus stomach which constituted a tough, translucent film. This had been separated from the rest of the stomach, after which it was dried by being blown up with air and finally cut and drawn over the drum frame.

Spirits The Eskimos believed that powerful shamans had several helping spirits: the Spirit of the Sea, Imam Almise, the protector of hunters pursuing sea mammals;2 and the Master of the Heavens, Sillam yua, the protector against weather changes, to whom hunters turned when their baidaras were caught in open seas by strong winds or storms. They turned to the Master of the Heavens with requests to rid themselves of undesirable qualities. There were also spirits of cliffs (i'nnam yua), rivers (kuigaghem yua), inlets (kangim yua), and capes (akneghem yua). But the cruelest spirit was thought to be the underground spirit, Nunam yua. All these spirits were permanent inhabitants of the Other World. In order not to offend his spirits, once a month and always under a full moon, the shaman had to bring them offerings (neghevkaghiaquq). It was believed that under the full moon, the spirits could see whatever occurred around them and whoever was giving them attention. If a shaman forgot any of his spirits it would lead to disaster, since spirits avenged such forgetfulness cruelly.

After a shaman was called to a patient, he was given, as part of his compensation, a strap of bearded seal skin. It was believed that this strap became the root of the shaman's life. The shaman, therefore, sought to keep it untouched. The worst harm would come to the shaman if, for any reason or even accidentally, the shaman's kinsfolk used or lost the strap (e.g., if dogs ate it or it fell into strange hands). In such cases, infuriated spirits would seize the shaman's soul or his shadow (taghneghaq).




In addition to permanent spirits, there were temporary ones - the spirits of the dead, thought to be dangerous to the health of the living, especially after they had been called to depart. It was thought that they could carry away the soul of a living person.

Permanent spirits were judged by the Es- kimo to be those dwelling in the Outer World. The spirits of the dead were thought to be evil. When the deceased was interrogated by the shaman, he (the deceased) would ask relatives to call on him for help in case of disaster. The relatives would do this in the first years after the death, but would eventually cease to call him as he would become too dangerous for the living. This was explained by the great loneliness of the deceased's soul for his kinsfolk, which grew over a period of years. Therefore, after being called to depart, the soul might, without being noticed, take the shadow of one of his relatives. In order to escape this, Eskimos sought not to call such spirits.

In general, persons who had brought harm to others in their lifetimes became evil spirits after death. Several measures were employed to defend against them. It was most important to keep them from entering the permanent winter houses (ya- rangas) while family members were sleeping. The critical period was four days after the death of a male family member; five days after the death of a female. At that time, the soul of the deceased made a circuit of the entire settlement to check whether dwellings were reliably closed. If they were not, the spirit might enter and take away either the soul or shadow of a loved or hated person.

To prevent this, a ritual was conducted by a mother. She sprinkled human urine, or the fatty remains of an oil lamp in a band around the yaranga. The Eskimos felt women were sacred, since they provided offspring. They were, therefore, threats to evil spirits. Sometimes the earth or snow near the entrance of the yaranga was simply sprinkled with urine. The soul of the deceased could also be driven away with the help of a shaman's drumstick waved in various directions.

The rationale of these beliefs is developed in the following well-known Eskimo legend:

There were two friends who were inseparable even though they belonged to different patricians. From early years they were so close that they called each other brother and they decided, in case one died, to visit each other as they did in life. Soon one of them fell ill and died. The surviving friend grieved so much that he could find no place for himself. He knew that four days after the funeral his deceased friend had to make the circuit of all the village dwellings. Four days went by. That night he could not fall asleep. He lay with closed eyes and remembered his friend laid to rest. He sensed

that something fearful and mysterious was going to happen to him. At the same time, other household members were sleeping. While he was await- ing something (strange events began) to happen. Suddenly the yaranga seemed to open up. He saw a clear, cloudless sky with a multitude of stars. Among them he could even distinguish the North Star, while the moon appeared somewhat strange. It had a human face. The mountains around the village were also clearly visible, as well as the seashore; even the cemetery where the remains of his beloved friend lay.

He noticed a little light appearing on his friend's grave. This little fire began to descend in the direction of the settlement, and he immedi- ately remembered their agreement - that after death, they would visit the surviving friend. The little fire approached the yaranga and then disappeared, a person appearing in its stead. He recognized his deceased friend's face. The latter, approaching the yaranga, said to him, "Do not fear me. Nothing evil shall happen in your life. I ask only that you help me make the circuit of the dwellings of your village. It is lonesome for me by myself."

Together they went about the village. A real festival was underway in the sky. Noise, laughter, shouts, singing. All around, it was unusual, mysterious. In the cemeteries, dwellings stood instead of graves. The barking of dogs was heard, but it seemed to come from a distance. The living friend could not restrain himself and asked his dead friend: "Why is the sky noisy? And why are there yaranga above and below?" The latter replied: "Those rejoicing in the sky are souls like me. And the yaranga on top are our dwellings. In that world we live like you on earth do now." As they made the circuit of the village, all was transpar- ent. Even the dwellers inside were visible - how and in what position they slept. Among the sleeping people, polar bears, wolverines, wolves, and ravens were on guard. But they were of enormous size: these were fetishes guarding the dwellings. They encountered yaranga wound around with a wide band of urine or the oily glitter of residual fat from oil lamps. "These are yaranga whose dwellers observe the ritual of sprinkling with urine or fat remains," said the deceased friend. But among some yaranga, such barriers were lacking. Protec- tor fetishes slept with those dwelling therein. In such yaranga, it was possible to enter boldly and seize the soul of one of those sleeping. "Those are ones not observing the sprinkling ritual," continued the deceased.

After the circuit they said good-bye to each other in a friendly fashion. They say that his friend lived to a great age.

This legend was passed down from generation to generation, so as to frighten the living. Hence, whenever someone in the village died, the shamans insisted that their relatives perform the sprinkling ceremony.

Seances were the main means of reaching the shaman's goals. Before calling his spirits, he



1 22 Arctic Anthropology 31 :1

would strip to the waist. Near his seat he placed presents received from the patient's relatives. The head of the household would have the oil lamps doused. After this, during the séance, the patient's relatives were required to sit without moving and refrain from talking, lest the shaman's helping spirit hear them and not respond to his call. Then the shaman would take up the drum and drumstick, and begin to sing. Shamans had their own wordless songs. They were performed with a very quick rhythm, the drumstick being struck sharply in time. Intermediate and weak shamans related their prophecies to the audience during the sé- ance. They did not reach the ecstatic state. But powerful shamans hallucinated during ecstasy and during these hallucinations communicated their prophecies to the audience. Ecstasies developed after intense drum-beating and the substitu- tion of ear-splitting shouts for songs. This had profound effects on the minds of the audience. Then the drumbeats ceased, the shouts ceased, and the shaman would slowly sit down on the floor. This meant that he was in contact with his spirits. In this ecstatic state, the shaman would begin to hallucinate, as though he could see the surrounding sea, mountains, capes, rocks (the natural surroundings) where his spirits were to be found. At the same time, he spoke with his spirits in a language completely unknown to the audience (Bogoraz 1919).

There were those spirits who spoke in an in- telligible language. For example, the shaman Uni- qaya spoke with his spirits in the Chaplino dialect although he normally spoke the Naukan dialect. Sometimes, the shaman in ecstasy would cease talking. This meant that his soul had temporarily left his body and gone to his spirits to discover details of the future lives of his fellow villagers.

In the course of a séance the shaman might perform various tricks. He might shoot himself in the head or heart, "cut off" his tongue, stab himself with a knife (the wound healing instantly), take out his intestines, or swallow stones. His soul would appear to leave a closed yaranga, the blows on the drum creating a noise that seemed to originate from outside the yaranga. Sharp cries and voices would seem to resound from the street, in words unknown to the listeners. The shaman would converse until dawn with his spirits in the presence of the audience. The shaman's language during his communication with his spirits does not submit to analysis. He held it in secrecy and explained it to no one. For example, the spirits of the shaman Tepqelyan were underworld spirits. He did not name them, he alone knew them. His spirits replied in a tongue unknown to the audience.

According to accounts of eyewitnesses, when a shaman's soul leaves his body, his pulse slows down and the heartbeats are reduced. Dur-

ing that time the shaman would lie on the floor supine and motionless.

It is interesting to consider the material position of Eskimo shamans. Powerful shamans were the oldest in the village. They enjoyed great authority among fellow villagers and beyond. They were in need of nothing. A hunter killing a sea mammal would first bring the shaman a good piece of meat. Powerful shamans were experi- enced former hunters. For this reason, their fore- casts of weather and the movements of sea mammals were often confirmed, producing even more authority for them. The younger weak and intermediate shamans engaged in hunting and, like everyone else, took care of their own domestic needs. Only upon reaching a more mature age did they become strong shamans.

Sorcery Shamans sought strictly to maintain their pres- tige. It was not permissible to insult a shaman since he would harshly avenge injuries. The offender might, while hunting, be carried off to sea on an ice floe, where he would perish. Spirits might take the hunter's soul or poison his meat. But a shaman who had committed crimes against people would lose the trust of his fellow villagers. Earlier, shamans committing such crimes were destroyed.

The Eskimos believed in life after death. A destroyed shaman would become an immortal enemy of the patrican that had killed him. And that shaman would seek to torment his killers from the Other World. Most shamans, however, did not take vengeance upon those who injured them lest they lose their authority over fellow villagers. They reasoned that if a shaman used his spirits to harm people it would be the worse for him as well. A spirit who becomes accustomed to human flesh demands fresh sacrifices every year. Every year, the shaman would be obligated to provide his spirits with a new victim - some non- relative. If he should refuse to bring a victim in good order, his spirits would, without warning, seize one of the shaman's own relatives or even the shaman himself. His spirits would no longer obey him.

Sorcerers would steal a small piece of clothing from the person designated as a sacrifice to the spirits. At night, when the village was sleeping, the sorcerer shaman would go to the eastern edge of the settlement. Having called his spirits, he would lay out as sacrifices the pieces of clothing of the future victims. These represented the body of the victim. The pieces of clothing had to be of reindeer hide or ribbon sealskin.

Some shamans ritually poisoned their ene- mies. In the past, the Eskimos did not bury their dead. They placed the body on the ground and




circled it with stones. The corpse's clothing was cut to pieces, so that the body was left naked. Men needed four days to come to the Other World; women, five. (Women lived longer than men, since they had five lives.) Four days after the funeral, the graves of men were visited; five days after for women. If, during these days, the corpse had been devoured by dogs or arctic foxes, it meant that, in life, the deceased had been kind. If the corpse remained whole, the person had sinned against living people. These funerary practices were exploited by "poisoning shamans." At night, when the entire settlement was asleep, the shaman would go to a grave. He would not approach it at once. He would lie on the ground and creep toward the deceased. He would represent a fox, even waving his legs like a tail. He would do this so that the soul of the deceased would not discover that a person was crawling toward him. With a knife, the shaman would then cut off a piece of flesh from the dead person's body. Then, on his return to the yaranga, he would wrap this piece in the dried intestine of a walrus or a bearded seal. He would hide it so no one would find it, and then await the decomposition of the piece of flesh. He would invite a person who had offended him to eat a meal and treat him to reindeer meat (secretly) mixed with the flesh of the deceased. Within a year the offender would die, his organ- ism rotted.

Only young shamans participated system- atically in social production. They did not exer- cise much authority, but people still listened to them. Elderly shamans did not always participate in communal hunts, for age and failing strength held them back. But they sought to appear to be in good shape. In the winter, they generally engaged in hook-and-line fishing under the ice, and in domestic activities, such as cutting bearded seal hides into strips. Only in the spring- summer period and in the fall did they take active part in collective sea mammal hunts.

Each baidara crew had one elderly shaman. Generally, he was a relative of the baidara's captain. During the collective hunt, the shaman's chief function was to protect the lives of the hunters from the elemental forces of nature and from the evil spirits of the sea. He was the chief person in the baidara and enjoyed unquestioned authority. All, even the captain, turned to him for advice.

Among the shaman's duties were to make offerings from the first game killed to the spirit masters of the Sea and Heavens, and to the spirits of cliffs and capes, and those living in mountains and natural bounds marked by rough terrain. On the open sea, the shaman did not engage in pre- dicting the future. His greater experience in marine hunting was needed by young hunters. He

taught them how and from which side to bring a baidara to a rookery of walruses on an ice floe. He taught them how to ward off the attack of a wounded walrus, how to conduct oneself during a hunt of gray or Greenland whales, how to man- age a baidara in a dense fog or during a storm, and how to steer a vessel through drifting ice. He taught them to judge what force of wind made it necessary to break off a hunt, etc. In all unfore- seen circumstances at sea, the crew would turn to the shaman.

The shaman played a large role in his family's life, taking part in decisions on a series of important questions. Shamans headed the festivals of marine hunters, such as the whale festival, the festival of lowering the first baidara into the water, and the conduct of beluga remains back into the sea.

The family of a hunter who had killed a beluga whale accompanied its remains as they were returned to the sea. When the body of the animal was cut up, the killer took the flippers, tail, and head. All these were placed in his meat storage pit. Several days later, before dawn, the family members went there, took the flippers and head, and brought them back to the yaranga. In the inner tent of the yaranga, they laid out their dried walrus hide on which the carcasses of ribbon seals and bearded seals were cut up, on which polar bear hides were defatted. Before bringing in the head of the beluga, it was sprinkled with water from a special wooden vessel. The flippers and head of the beluga were then placed on the walrus hide. From each limb, pieces were cut off corresponding to the number of those living in the yaranga. The yaranga dwellers then threw these pieces through the entrance-way in the direction of the sea. The eldest member of the family was the first to throw.

This ritual was devoted to bidding farewell to the beluga's remains and their return to their native environment, the sea. After the ritual had been accomplished, the hunter invited all the el- ders of his patrician to feast. The head of the beluga was placed upon a long wooden dish and the feasting of the guests began. Later, the guests returned home.

Before the first spring hunt of sea mammals, the shaman would interrogate his spirits with the help of a wooden drumstick fastened by a strap to the head of the baidara captain (angali'k). He would raise many questions. Would the hunt be successful? What troubles could be expected in the hunters' families? Would not the game go else- where? Which of the hunters should be forbidden to participate on the first days of the hunt?

During the hunt's first days, the shaman would not permit certain persons to be seated in the baidara. These included anyone who had re-



Endnotes


cently lost a relative, or a hunter who had left his hunting equipment and weapons in his own yaranga during his wife's or his dog's birthing. Non- compliance with these ancient rules was judged to be a profanation of the laws of the ancestors (ukyughallat eyust).3 It was thought that a baidara in which such a sinful person was found would be avoided by the disgusted game animals.

The shaman would also interrogate the head of the first killed walrus. This was conducted like the interrogation of the head of deceased and living persons. Various questions were submitted. Would there be many walrus this year? Would the Greenland whales come in the fall? Would there be walrus on the rookeries? After the interrogation of the head, the shaman would persuade the walrus with incantations not to take offense against people, to make successful hunts possible in the future, and to bring many walrus into the region next year. Then the captain of the baidara would go out of the dwelling and throw a piece of meat cut from the walrus' flippers in the direction of the sea. This indicated that the soul of the killed walrus was returned to the sea. Feasting followed. After the guests had eaten, the skinned head of the walrus would be taken to a special sanctuary far from the village, where many walrus skulls gathered since ancient times were accumulated.

The Soviet Period4 Most of the younger shamans did not oppose the establishment of Soviet authority. They even wel- comed the appearance of Russian physicians, calling them "living spirits." The shaman's spirits were invisible to those attending a séance, and it could not be seen how they cured the sick. But Russian physicians cured in the sight of those attending.

Elderly shamans, closely associated with wealthy hunters and former traders did not rec- ognize the new authority. They agitated the people not to allow the sick to be treated by physicians, nor to let their children go to school. In Naukan, there was a group of shamans (Ninegnilan, Qan- tazun, Aminak, and others) who propagandized certain Christian customs. This group was created on the initiative of American missionaries at the beginning of the 1920s. The great shaman Nineg- nilan, who had accepted the Christian faith, was the leader of this group. Ninegnilan suffered from a psychic condition which was periodically mani- fested. During attacks, he sought to isolate himself, running into the tundra. For this reason, the people from his settlement thought he was possessed by one of his spirits. Almost all feared him.

This group conducted propaganda among the Eskimos on behalf of Christian missionaries. It introduced a new word in Eskimo language - santi (from English Sunday). In the village of

Naukan it became forbidden to work or hunt sea mammals on santi. This group prohibited children from attending school, and required people to avoid Russian physicians. It called on the pop- ulation not to buy Soviet goods, and it spread various rumors.

Shamanism was rooted in the world view of the primitive dwellers of far Northeast Siberia, which over centuries has penetrated people's consciousness from early childhood and has proven to be tenacious. To extract such beliefs at once from the aboriginal social consciousness was im- possible. From early years, the child found himself under the influence of his parents' religious concepts and ceremonial activities, and of the shamans with their actions, requirements, and rituals. The young hunter learned from the shamans, not only how to hunt sea mammals, but he also mem- orized by heart the incantations connected with the sea and needed by him in life. This included, for example, how to thank the Master of the Sea if he had granted a successful hunt, and how to arouse the compassion of the Master of the Sea in case of disaster while hunting - being carried away on an ice flow into the open sea, accidentally wounding oneself, falling ill unexpectedly, with no source of help; or one might be mauled by a polar bear and still live, fall into the water and be unable to get out, etc. Included also was how to find a sweetheart and arouse appropriate feelings in her.5

With the advent of a new life in Chukotka, different from the past in which all was held together by the superstitions of illiterate hunters, there began an active dissemination of scientific knowledge, and a rise in the people's general in- tellectual culture. There was atheistic propaganda by State and party workers, teachers, and health workers against the reactionary essence of shamanism and its harmful effects upon people's consciousness. These gave good results in rooting out shamanism - a survival of the distant past.

1. Initiation in the hunter's role took place when a boy killed his first ribbon or bearded seal. In the old days, labrets of soft stone or bone were placed in his lips and cheeks as a sign of maturity. This most ancient hunting ritual was conducted under the guidance of a shaman, a relative of the boy's father or mother.

2. Neither the shaman nor the hunter had a con- cept of the physical appearance of the Master of the Sea, since no one had ever seen him. The Mas- ter of the Sea supposedly protected the safety of the vessels and the lives of the hunters. During a collective hunt in a baidara, he was given offer-



References Cited


ings, bits of walrus flippers or fins from gray or Greenland whales. The countenance of the Master of Heavens was also unknown to the Eskimos. During archaeological excavations at Ekven, Aru- tyunov and Sergeyev (1975:180) found a wooden human mask which they thought to be a repre- sentation of the Master of the Heavens, but that is improbable. During the whale festival, Eskimos used various masks. The masks used during the festival were evidently buried with their owners. The Master of the Heavens governed the weather at sea. In the open sea, offerings were presented to him, as well as to the Master of the Sea. On land, the Master of the Heavens was brought offerings of reindeer meat. Ordinary hunters, if their catch was individual, could themselves make offerings to the Masters of the Sea and the Heavens, as well as to the spirits of their shamans.

3. In general, shamanistic roles were embedded in family and patrician contexts. Each patrician had its ancestors. Rituals, customs, hunting rules, festivals, beliefs, myths, legends, taboos, and family and wedding rites - these as a whole constituted the law of the ancestors. They were the rules of conduct inherited from the ancestors. If a patrician became extinct, its laws of the ancestors ceased to exist. But other patricians remembered the extinct clans both positively and negatively. For example, the Sagrag'mit and Unixkog'mit patricians of Naukan have long been extinct. But they are remembered and talked about. The members of the Sagrag'mit clan were esteemed as spe- cialists in the building of semisubterranean struc- tures, while the Unixkog'mit were reported to be the laziest of all, but pious. 4. Editor's Note: Written in the 1970s, this article reflects the official "Soviet" view of traditional Eskimo shamanism.

5. Major elements of Eskimo ritual practice among shamans and lay people alike were incantations (qaniisut), which earlier bore a magical character. They were used for curing people, for vengeance against an offender, for gaining patronage for a successful hunt, to make a trailed whale turn toward the land, to keep the weather from deterio- rating, to improve the weather, etc.

Editor's Note: The translator of this article, Dr. De- mitri Shimkin, passed away before the final stages of editing and translation verification. We have done our best to consult outside scholars to check orthographies, bibliographic references, and some ethnographic information. We regret if any minor errors appear in the final version of this paper, but feel strongly that its important ethnographic content warrants publication.

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