44 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 9 



The spirit would then explain the cause of the ill- 

 ness and what the shaman should do. If a foreign 

 object was causing illness the shaman would suck 

 the painful part of the body, later removing the 

 object from his mouth and showing it to the pa- 

 tient and those present. These objects were usu- 

 ally said to be pieces of bone, sticks of wood, or 

 worms. If the soul had been removed the shaman's 

 spirit helper would return it to the body of the 

 patient. 



Shamans were also called upon to cause illness. 

 This the shaman did by dancing and chanting all 

 night, calling on the soul of the person whom he 

 wished to make ill. When the soul appeared 

 before him the shaman would force the soul of a 

 snake or frog to enter the bewitched person's body. 

 The soul would remain in the power of the shaman 

 and would do his bidding while the bewitched 

 person became ill. 



Injuries and some ailments the shamans are said 

 to have cured by medicines made from roots and 

 herbs. But in this case, too, the shaman's spirit 

 helper informed the shaman what roots and herbs 

 he should use. 



To discover the whereabouts of game, lost ob- 

 jects, and the location of enemy war parties, in 

 the past, shamans would either send their spirit 

 helpers to investigate and inform them or the 

 shamans would find out for themselves by sending 

 their own souls as scouts. 



Shamans would also tell people how to prepare 

 amulets and charms against dangei-s to the body, 

 to fields, and to livestock, and how to prepare love 

 medicines and to make charms to bring about suc- 

 cess in hunting and fishing. These charms were 

 effective, it was believed, because the shamans 

 knew the properties of certain plants or inanimate 

 objects which would bring about the results re- 

 quired. 



An important function of Terena shamans was 

 the selection and training of new shamans. Old 

 shamans selected novices from among their chil- 

 dren or other young people in the village who 

 expressed their willingness to undertake the rigor- 

 ous training required. A certain amount of seclu- 

 sion and the avoidance of fat and salt was de- 

 manded for the novices. The initiation of novices 

 usually took place during the annual shaman festi- 

 val. The novice was given a small snake, bird, or 

 plant which he was supposed to swallow. During 



the following night the novice was expected to have 

 a dream in which the soul of the snake, bird, or 

 plant appeared to him. As we have seen, the souls 

 of these animals, birds, and plants were believed 

 to be the ghosts of dead shamans who appeared 

 in nonhuman forms. If the novice was successful 

 in making contact with a spirit or ghost he would 

 continue his training, for he now had a spirit 

 helper. Wlien the novice had learned all the 

 myths, chants, rites, and magical lore, he was given 

 the gourd rattle, ifdaka, and was considered a qual- 

 ified shaman, kolshuinuneti. He was presented to 

 the tribe during the annual festival of the 

 shamans. 



Once a j'ear the shamans held a j^ublic perform- 

 ance, or festival, known as the oMo^koti. This 

 festival took place when the Pleiades had reached 

 their maximum height in the sky. A month be- 

 fore this date the shamans gathered wild honey 

 and prepared quantities of alcoholic mead in 

 preparation for the ceremony. During this wait- 

 ing period the shamans chanted together every 

 night and told stories about their uchepovoi, or 

 spirit helpers. Often the shamans would fall into 

 a trance and remain as if dead, saying that their 

 uchepovoi had called them into the spirit world. 

 Just before the festival the shamans would build 

 a special hut or shrine near the village called 

 pen6-oheo''kot'i. 



On the morning of the day fixed for the oheo^- 

 koti the shamans would gather at their special hut 

 accompanied by their novices. A fire would be 

 lighted and the shamans would sit around it. One 

 of the shamans, called ivohdkoti (itchy one), 

 would then stand up and turning toward the grave- 

 yard would shout "Wake up !" and call all the 

 known dead by name. Then the shamans would 

 begin to chant and beat their drums and march 

 toward the village. When they entered the vil- 

 lage they passed before each house. When they 

 came before the house of a shaman they would 

 stop, and the owner of the house would chant, 

 shaking his gourd rattle, calling on his spirit 

 helper to give him power. 



If the shaman were successful or had the skill, 

 he would perform certain miracles before his 

 house to impress the villagers who were gathered 

 around to observe the proceedings. He would 

 make snakes, liirds, and other objects come out 

 of his mouth. He would, for instance, take a piece 



