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Eskimo shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy

Eskimo shamanism refers to the those aspects of the culture of the Eskimo (Inuit and Yup'ik) peoples, which are related to a certain mediator role between people and spirits, souls, mythological beings. Such shamanistic beliefs and practices were once widespread among Eskimo groups, but today are rarely practiced.[1]

Relatedness to other cultures termed “shamanistic”

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Can Eskimo cultures labelled as “shamanistic”? When speaking of “shamanism” in various Eskimo groups, it is important to note that the term “shamanism” has been used for various distinct cultures. Classically, some indigenous cultures of Siberia were described as having “shamans”, but the term is now used for other cultures as well. In general, the belief systems termed “shamanistic” accept that certain people (the shamans) can in the role of a mediator with the spirit world,[2] contacting the various beings that populate the belief system (spirits, souls, mythological beings).

The word “shaman” comes from a Tungusic language and means “he/she who knows” [2]. The shaman is really an expert in their own culture, thus the audience trusts them, and they can act with the safety of knowledge (using various means including musical, epical, choreographic, or manifested in objects).[2] The shamans may use the knowledge for the benefit of the community, or for doing harm. They may have helping spirits, travel to other words.

Most Eskimo groups knew such role of mediator:[3] the person filling it in was actually believed to be able to command helping spirits, ask mythological beings to “release” the souls of animals to enable the success of the hunt, heal sick people by bringing back their “stolen” souls. Term “shaman” is used in several English-language publications also in relation to Eskimos (academic[4][1] and popular[5]), mostly for angakkuq. The /aˈliɣnalʁi/ of the Siberian Yupiks is also translated as “shaman” in the Russian literature[6] (another in English).[3]

Eskimo shamanism also exhibits some unique features, or features not shared with all shamanistic religions. The soul concepts of several groups are specific examples of soul dualism, and the belief system assumes specific links between the living, the souls of hunted animals, and those of dead people. Unlike in many Siberian cultures, the careers of most Eskimo shamans lack the motivaton of force: becoming a shaman is usually a result of human decision, not a necessity forced by the spirits.[4]

Career of the Eskimo shaman

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Motivation

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In the case of many Siberian peoples, the shaman may be forced by the spirits to accept their profession.[7] This forced motivation is generally lacking in Eskimo culture; even if the apprentice gets a “calling”, they can refuse it.[4]

Initiation

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The career of the apprentice Eskimo shaman usually includes a difficult learning and initiation process, sometimes including a vision quest. Like the shamans of some other cultures, the Eskimo shaman may be believed to have a special career: they may have been an animal at a period of their life, and thus be able to use the valuable experiences learned for the benefit of the community.[8][5][9]

Special language

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In several groups, there was a special distinct language inside the community which consisted of an archaic version of the normal language, interlaced with special metaphors and speech styles. In some groups, such variants were used when speaking with spirits invoked by the shaman and with unsocialised babies who grew into the human society through a special ritual performed by its mother. Some writers have treated it as a language for communication with “alien” beings.[4] Expert shamans could speak whole sentences differing from vernacular speech.[1].

The role of the shaman's language, contacting “alien” beings,[4] can be seen from the fact that a similar language is used for an analogous goal. A mother may talk to her baby in a non-vernacular language during a socialization ritual — the newborn is regarded as a little “alien” (just like spirits or animal souls).[4]

Soul dualism

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Main article: Soul dualism

The Eskimo shaman may fulfill multiple functions, including healing, curing infertile women, and securing the success of hunts (in the case of a scarcity of game or a long meteorological calamity hindering hunting, such as a blizzard).

This plethora of (seemingly unassociated) functions can be grasped better by understanding the soul concept which underlies them. Variations occur among Eskimos, but in general they are a special variant of soul dualism.

Healing
It is held that the cause of sickness is soul theft: somebody (an enemy shaman, a spirit, etc.) has stolen the soul of the sick person. The reason the person would remain alive is explained by the belief that people had multiple souls. Stealing the appropriate soul of the victim does not cause immediate death, only illness or prolonged death. It takes a shaman to bring back the stolen soul. The soul-thief can be an enemy shaman.[10] According to another variant observed among Ammassalik Eskimos in East Greenland, even the joints of the body have their own small souls. If such a small soul escapes, that is the explanation of pain.[11]
Fertity
The shaman avails the soul of the future child to be born by the woman.[12]
Success of hunts
The shaman visits a mythological being who protects all sea animals (usually, the Sea Woman). The Sea Woman keeps the souls of sea animals (in her house, or in a pot). If the shaman pleases her, she releases the animal souls, ending the scarcity of game.[4]

It is the shaman's free soul that can take part in a spirit journey to far and dangerous places (land of dead, Sea Woman, Moon etc) while his body is still alive.[12] At the initiation of the apprentice shaman, the initiator extracts the shaman's free soul and makes it familiar to the helping spirits so that they shall listen when the new shaman invokes them.[10][13]

Animals may have shared souls (shared across their species).[1] The baby's developing own soul was usually “supported” by a name-soul: the baby was given the name of a dead relative, whose name-soul has accompanied and helped the child till adolescence. This concept of inheriting name-souls could amount to a kind of reincarnation among some groups (Caribou Eskimos).[4]

Publicity versus secrecy

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It was believed in several contexts, that secrecy (privacy) may be needed to the effectivenes of an act or an object (either beneficial or harmful, intended or incidental), and publicity may cause its neutralisation.

  • Magic formulae usually required secrecy, they could lose their power if they became known by other people than their owners.
  • Also the deliberate harmful magical act (ilisiinneq) had to be done in secrecy.
  • If the victim of another detrimental magical act (tupilak-making) had enough magical power (e.g. by amulets} to notice the enemic act and “rebound” it back to the person who executed it, then the thus endangered person could escape only by public confession of his planned (and failed) sorcery.
  • a rite of passage celebrating the first major hunting succes of a boy often contained a “partaking” element: the whole community incised the already killed game or took part in its consumption. Because the function of this rite of passage was to establish a positive relationship between the young man and game, and the killed animal could bring dangers to the hunter. The partaking ritual of the community lessened this danger by sharing the responsibility.

Some of the shaman's functions can be understood in the light of this notion of secrecy/publicity. The cause of illness was usually believed to be (besides soul theft) a breach of some taboo (e.g. the conceiving of an abortion). The public confession (lead by the shaman during a public seance) could bring relief the patient. Similar remarks apply for taboo breaches endangering the whole community (wrath of mythical beings causing calamities).[4]

Certain unity of Eskimo cultures

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Eskimo groups comprise a huge area stretching from Eastern Siberia through Alaska and Northern Canada (including Labrador Peninsula) to Greenland. Important examples of shamanistic practice and beliefs have been recorded at several parts of this vast area crosscutting continental borders.[4][1][14]

Do the belief systems of various Eskimo groups have such common features that justifies speaking about “Eskimo” belief systems? There is a certain unity in the culture of the Eskimo groups [10] [15]. Although a large distance separated the Asiatic Eskimos and Greenland Eskimos, their shamanistic seances showed many similarities [3]. Similar remarks apply for comparisons of Asiatic with North American Eskimo shamanisms [5]. Also the usage of a specific shaman's language is documented at several Eskimo groups [1] [4], including Asian ones ([3], p. 128 of [6]).

Similar remarks apply for aspects of the belief system not directly linked to shamanism:

  • tattooing (online English [16]);
  • accepting the killed game as a dear guest visiting the hunter (p. 218 [6]);
  • usage of amulets (p. 380 of [6]);
  • lack of totem animals (online Russian [17]; paper [18]).

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Merkur, Daniel: Becoming Half Hidden / Shamanism and Initiation among the Inuit. (Series: Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis / Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion). Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, 1985.
  2. ^ a b c Hoppál, Mihály: Sámánok Eurázsiában. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 2005. ISBN 963-05-8295-3. (The title means “Shamans in Eurasia”, the book is written in Hungarian, but it is published also in German, Estonian and Finnish.) Site of publisher with short description on the book (in Hungarian)
  3. ^ a b c d Menovščikov, G.A. (the same author as Г.А. Меновщиков, but transliterated): Popular Conceptions, Religious Beliefs and Rites of the Asiatic Eskimoes. Translated to English and published in edition by Diószegi, Vilmos and Hoppál, Mihály: Folk Beliefs and Shamanistic Traditions in Siberia. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1968, 1996.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kleivan, I. and Sonne, B.: Eskimos / Greenland and Canada. (Series: Iconography of religions, section VIII /Artic Peoples/, fascicle 2). Institute of Religious Iconography • State University Groningen. E.J. Brill, Leiden (The Netherland), 1985. ISBN 90 04 07160 1.
  5. ^ a b c Piers Vitebsky, The Shaman: Voyages of the Soul - Trance, Ecstasy and Healing from Siberia to the Amazon, Duncan Baird, 2001. ISBN 1-903296-18-8 Cite error: The named reference "Vit-Sam" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c d Rubcova, E.S.: Materials on the Language and Folklore of the Eskimoes, Vol. I, Chaplino Dialect. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow • Leningrad, 1954. Original data: Е.С. Рубцова: Материалы по языку и фольклору эскимосов (чаплинский диалект). Академия Наук СССР. Москва • Ленинград, 1954.
  7. ^ Diószegi, Vilmos: Samanizmus. Gondolat (series: Élet és Tudomány Kiskönyvtár), Budapest, 1962.
  8. ^ „Die Seele, die alle Tiere durchwanderte”. A tale, in the following book: Barüske, Heinz: Eskimo Märchen. Eugen Diederichs Verlag (series: „Die Märchen der Weltliteratur”), Düsseldorf • Köln 1969. On pp 19–23, tale 7.
  9. ^ Tale “The soul that lived in the bodies of all beasts”. In: Eskimo Folk-Tales. Collected by Knud Rasmussen, edited and rendered into English by W. Worster, with illustrations by native Eskimo artists. Gyldendal, London • Copenhagen, 1921. Online available, view it with Microsoft Live or download as pdf, select p. 100).
  10. ^ a b c Rasmussen, Knud: Thulefahrt. Frankurter Societăts-Druckerei, Frankfurt am Main, 1926.
  11. ^ Gabus, Jean: A karibu eszkimók. Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest, 1970. (Hungarian translation of the original: Vie et coutumes des Esquimaux Caribous, Libraire Payot Lausanne, 1944.) It desribes the life of Caribou Eskimo groups.
  12. ^ a b Merkur 1985, p. 4
  13. ^ Merkur 1985, p. 121
  14. ^ Gabus, Jean: A karibu eszkimók. Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest, 1970. (Hungarian translation of the original: Vie et coutumes des Esquimaux Caribous, Libraire Payot Lausanne, 1944.) It desribes the life of Caribou Eskimo groups.
  15. ^ Mauss, Marcel. Seasonal variations of the Eskimo: a study in social morphology; in collab. with Henri Beuchat; translated, with a foreward, by James J. Fox. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979, c1950.
  16. ^ Tattoos of the early hunter-gatherers of the Arctic written by Lars Krutak
  17. ^ A radio interview with Russian scientists about Asian Eskimos
  18. ^ Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. (1952) The Sociological Theory of Totemism. In Structure and Function in Primitive Society. Glencoe: The Free Press.

Category:Shamanism Category:Eskimos Category:Cultural anthropology

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