SHAMANISM CASANOWICZ 425 



shamans are also distinquished by the amagyat on their breast, a 

 metal plate, usually copper, adorned with the fi^jure of a man. It 

 represents the shaman's spirit protector or ancestor spirit. It is 

 a particular badge of the shaman'^ vocation which is given by the 

 old shaman to the new. 



But the most important accessory of the shaman's outfit is the 

 tambourine {tungur or tu7') Avith the drumstick, without Avhich his 

 conjurations have no force and his soothsaying is without validity. 

 The mighty sounds of the magic drum penetrate into the world of 

 spirits, causing them to submit to his will. Besides its power to 

 call up and gather into it the spirits, it serves the shaman as a 

 vehicle in his flight to heaven or in descending into the dark realm 

 of Erlik. The form of the tambourine varies with different tribes. 

 AVith some it is circular; with others it is oval, with its longest 

 diameter of about 24 inches. Inside the drum, on the long side of 

 the hoop, is a handle in form of a stave. This handle is usually in 

 the crude form of a man, broadening at the upper end to represent 

 a head and forming at the lower end a fork resembling legs. This 

 handle is called the "host" {tungur asi) of the drum. Along the 

 arms of the "host "are fastened iron rattles and bells, the number 

 of which is greater or less, according to the rank of the shaman, 

 and corresponding with the number of spirits subject to him. On 

 the outside the skin of the drum is decorated with figures of a 

 symbolic kind, intimately connected with shamanistic beliefs and 

 mysteries (see pis. 1 and 2). Among the Buryats the novice is 

 not permitted to acquire the drum until after the third year from his 

 consecration. To the paraphernalia of a Buryat shaman belong 

 also two horse staves, cut from a live birch tree in such a manner 

 that the tree should not die. They represent the horses on which 

 the shaman flies to heaven. 



THE SHAMAN— HIS FUNCTIONS 



The ideal shaman unites in his person the offices of priest, healer, 

 and prophet. As a priest he officiates at communal as well as private 

 sacrifices and ceremonials. But the shaman's priestly functions are 

 of secondary importance to and emanate from his other functions. 

 There are many sacrifices and ceremonies at which his participation is 

 not essential. His connection with sacrifice is mainly the fact that as 

 one who Imows the will of the gods or spirits and what sacrifices 

 will be pleasing to them on any occasion he determines their nature 

 and the method of offering them. 



Siclmess is according to the belief not only of primitive peoples 

 but was also of some highly advanced in civilization, as the Baby- 

 lonians and Assyrians, due to a malevolent spirit that has got mto a 



