SHAMANISM CASANOWICZ 431 



Radloff describes the mighty impression which this wild scene 

 produced on him and the other guests who were all shaken and 

 dumbstruck. 



Radloff adds: "The offering of the sacrifice and purification of 

 the yurta are the proper priestly functions of the shaman. In them 

 he has to develop his entire art, and he is the right shaman who 

 understands how to arouse the fear and confidence of his audience, 

 so that they believe that his predictions are true oracles by which 

 the gods try to console and uplight them. Other actions of the 

 shaman are without importance. Pronouncing blessings and thanks- 

 giving other mortals can do, as also the performing of libations 

 to the jersu. Weather making and soothsaying are likewise not 

 exclusive prerogatives of the shaman. At birth, marriage, and 

 funerals the shaman has no share, unless these events are accom- 

 panied by unfavorable omens, when he is called to avert them by 

 conjuration and exorcism." 



THE SHAMAN— HIS INFLUENCE 



The shaman as mediator between men and spirits, uniting in 

 himself the many functions described above, enjoys great respect 

 among the people. But he is more feared than loved. His peculiar 

 dress, his wild and convulsive antics, the sound of the tambourine — 

 all lead to powerfully affect the nerves of an unsophisticated people 

 and to strike terror into their hearts. There is also a general 

 craving in man for the mysterious and for spiritual assistance in 

 the adversities and misfortunes of human life which the shaman 

 is believed to satisfy. There is a certain artistry in the shamanistic 

 practice. " Observation justifies the division of shamans into great, 

 middling, and petty. Some of them dispose of light and darlmess 

 in such a masterly manner, also of silence and incantation; the 

 modulation of the voice is so flexible, the gestures so peculiar and 

 expressive, the blows of the drum and the tone of them correspond 

 so well to the moment, and all is intertwined with such an original 

 series of unexpected words, witty observations, artistic and often 

 elegant metaphors, that involuntarily you give yourself up to the 

 charm of watching this wild and free evocation of a wild and free 

 spirit." ^2 



The shaman is often a man of unusual intelligence and mental re- 

 sources; he has a profound Imowledge of the simple life of his 

 neighbors and gradually acquires the habit of solving their per- 

 plexities by a logic of his own peculiar talent, and in many cases the 

 rite performed is to bring about a result which, like rain or sun- 



• ^ Sieroshevski, 1. c. p. 105. 



