422 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



new shaman kills the animal destined for sacrifice, his dress is sprin- 

 kled with the blood, and the flesh is eaten by the spectators.^ 



Among the Biiryats the consecration of a shaman is very elaborate 

 and expensive, including purifications and ablutions, the sacrificing 

 of many animals, and a numerous personnel of assistants and par- 

 ticipants. He is addressed on this occasion: "When thou art called 

 to a poor man, ask little in return for thy trouble and take what is 

 given. Take care of the poor, help them and pray to the gods to de- 

 fend them against the power of the evil spirits. If thou art called 

 by a rich man, go to him riding on a bullock and do not ask much 

 for your trouble. If thou art called at the same time by a poor and 

 by a rich man, go first to the poor." The candidate repeats these 

 precepts after his mentor and promises to observe them.® 



MALE AND FEMALE SHAMANS 



Most commonly the shaman is a man. The natives about the 

 Altai mountains in northern central Asia allow only men to take 

 part in their sacrificial feasts so that consequently the shamans must 

 be men. Female shamans are found among the Tunguse, Ostyaks, 

 Buryats, and Yakuts, and though with the last they are regarded 

 as inferior to the male shaman, yet are preferred for the cure of 

 mental troubles. The Golds, on the Amur River, also have female 

 shamans, and among the Kamchadales, on the peninsula of Kam- 

 chatka, every old woman is looked upon as a witch and interpreter 

 of dreams.^" 



WHITE AND BLACK SHAMANS 



The Buryats distinguish between white shamans, who serve the 

 good spirits {tengris) of the west, and the black shamans, who serve 

 the evil spirits of the east. The former are honored as those who 

 through their influence with the beneficent powers help and protect 

 men ; the latter are feared because through the evil spirits they often 

 work harm to men. For one who has such power over spirits as to 

 drive them out from bodies must be able also to send them into people 

 and make them ill or mad. They may also steal the souls of their 



* Comp. V. M. Mikhailovski, Oliver Wardrop, " Shamanism in Siberia and European 

 Russia," Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, toI. XXIV 

 (1895), p. 86. 



• Czapllcka, op. cit., p. 187. 



»• Landtman, op. cit., p. 194 ff. In America, according to Dixon (1. c, p. 2), the 

 shamans are predominantly male, though women are by no means entirely excluded. 

 •' Among the tribes of Patagonia tliere was a curious custom which prescribed the wear- 

 ing of female clothing by male shamans." An analogous custom is found, according to 

 Sieroshevski-Sumner, " The Yakuts," in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of 

 Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 31 (1901), p. 103 f., among the Yakuts of the Kolmyck 

 district, where the shamans " for want of any special dress, put on women's dress. 

 They wear their hair long and comb and braid as women do. According to popular 

 belief, any shaman of more than ordinary power can bear children like a womaa. They 

 even gave birth to various animals and birds." 



