SHAMANISM AND DOCTORING
Shamans or doctors, more commonly known to modern Americans by the name
medicine men, were important in the lives of all Indians but, among
ours, probably to the highest degree among the Maidu. Whether we, with
our scientific enlightenment today, are after all happier and of greater
peace of mind, than the aborigines were or not, is a philosophical
consideration beyond the scope of this book. The fact of the matter is
that mankind in the past invariably has resorted to the supernatural to
explain things not understood. Indians are a case in point—being totally
without scientific explanations, mysticism and the supernatural pervaded
their whole culture—their every day activities—to a point which to us
today seems fantastic, yet understandable in a way. If you and I had
been in the Indian’s place, might not we also have subscribed whole
heartedly to these same beliefs with which we would have grown up, and
which our loved and trusted elders had taught us in good faith?
Shamanism gave to the Indians a feeling of comfort and, shall we say,
security?—a sort of foundation of faith which all men must have for the
living of reasonably satisfying lives.
Shamans were men of influence in the village, with prestige second only
to that of the chief. Women shamans were uncommon and usually possessed
less potent power. The life of a shaman was precarious because if he
failed to effect a high percentage of cures or if he were “proven”
responsible for sending pains which caused death to persons, he might be
killed—sometimes even with the advance approval of the chief, and
without retaliation by the offending shaman’s relatives. When this was
done, he was cut into pieces, not for the morbid reasons, the reader
might suspect, but for the practical reason that the parts of his body
could in this way be disposed of in widely scattered places. Otherwise
there was the danger that he might, with the help of his power, be
reassembled and again be able to continue his malpractice and to include
his murderers among future victims.
There were several kinds of shamans among the local Indians. Each tribe
in the Lassen area had the all important Sucking Shaman. Atsugewi and
mountain Maidu also had special Bear, Rattlesnake, and Weather Shamans
while only Yana had Singing Shamans in addition.
The power of shamans was much more potent than mere “luck” which came
easily to the majority of ordinary mortals in dreams, during puberty
ceremonies, and the like. This “luck” was a weak supernatural blessing
which was not sought, but came voluntarily and gave the person skill and
success in crafts and daily pursuits such as fishing, hunting certain
animals or birds, canoe making, et cetera.
It would be impractical in this book to give the complicated and
voluminous details of all phases of shamanism as conceived and practiced
by each of the four local tribes. The following information has been
somewhat generalized in the hope that the reader will get the “feel” of
the shaman concept which was essentially the same for all the tribes of
the Lassen area.
Power was usually sought by men desiring to be shamans, but all were not
successful in such quests. On the other hand shamanistic power came to
some voluntarily, and it was dangerous not to accept this power if it
came to one. To refuse might cause death. One could tell when one was
successful in getting power because one would bleed from the nose or
mouth. He would also learn to sing and dance, and would receive
instructions and paraphernalia from his guardian spirit.
Shamanistic power could be acquired in a number of ways, not all of
which applied to each tribe being considered. A rare means was by
inheritance. If an old shaman had power and if this power or guardian
spirit liked his son or nephew, it would say “Sometimes I’m going to
play with that boy” and so it goes to the boy. At sundown the latter
listens to it sing to him and he gets the power. The boy learns about it
in the vision and from the old shaman’s instructions.
[Illustration: Small portions of yellow hammer or red-shafted quill
headbands.]
Another infrequent way to gain power was involuntarily when seriously
ill, while in a trance, or when dreaming.
The third and usual method of acquiring the shamanistic power was by
vision quest. It was a difficult ordeal. This might be undertaken at
various times of life, but most commonly at or near puberty. In questing
power there was no assurance of success, no matter how sincere a person
might be, or how hard he might try. Successful shamans could quest
repeatedly for additional powers.
Youths were prepared for questing by being lectured to by fathers or
uncles who also pierced their nose septa. Each youth went alone and
unclothed into certain portions of the mountains for several days and
nights. He slept little and fasted, eating little or nothing at all; all
flesh was taboo. The questing usually included swimming in lakes or
special pools and placing the nose piercing stick in an underwater
niche, and (Yana) securing certain bird feathers. He built a fire,
smoking his body over it, and cut himself deliberately. If successful,
the power came to him in a trance or faint producing bleeding from the
nose or mouth.
The guardian spirit communicated with the novice, appearing in a vision
usually. It gave instructions and taught its special ceremonial song. To
shamans of some tribes the guardian spirit looked something like a
human; to others it looked like a bug or like a small hair. This was the
“pain” or poison object and yet was considered to be a guardian spirit
at the same time. This is what the novice acquired in becoming a shaman.
This pain or guardian spirit could come from any of many sources. It was
alive and could talk, and gave the novice certain resultant powers. Most
commonly powers were from animals such as coyote, bear, and the like,
but also might come from sun, moon, wind, thunder and lightning, eagle,
hawk, small birds, reptiles, frog, or oldman spirit.
The novice then acquired what we might call magic feathers. There were
several types including the popular salmon colored flicker feathers.
Most important, however, was the feather tuft known as kaku among the
Atsugewi. This allegedly was found in finished form and not made. So
full of power was the kaku that it could not be kept in a house. It was
placed outside securely tied to a willow branch beside a stream or
hidden inside a hollow tree trunk. The kaku was able to move by itself
so had to be tied down or placed under a rock. When the novice shaman
discovered his kaku, the feathers were singing; when he died, blood
dripped from its feathers!
Upon his return to the village, the successful seeker stayed out of
dwelling houses for a day or two. Among some tribes he was sick for this
period. Universally he sweated and swam. Eating habits of the novice
shaman varied in different cases, but were always as dictated by the
specific instructions given to him by his guardian spirit. Invariably
all forms of flesh were shunned. He smoked tobacco and gave his first
hunting kill to an old man. During the novice period the new shaman was
helped by old shamans at the fireside in the sweat house. He did much
dancing, singing, handled hot coals and fire, bled from the mouth, and
might fall into a trance.
In contrast to herbalist doctors who gave private treatment, that of
shamans was public and usually conducted indoors, preferably in sweat
lodges. The shaman needed singing help and the more help and the more
persons who attended his doctoring the better. Sucking Shamans were the
most important and required official assistants. These included one or
more interpreters to communicate with the lay helpers or supporters,
while the shaman was doctoring, and an outside speaker to help call the
shaman’s spirits. Doctoring could take from one to three days and
nights.
To diagnose the patient’s ills the shaman danced about, blowing smoke on
him, and singing with the help of the audience. The shamans also drank
water, sometimes with a tube, from portable stone mortars with spirit
power. They often squirted water from their mouths. A whistle was used
in some cases and often the supernatural powerful cocoon rattle. Among
mountain Maidu herb medicines might be administered to the patient also.
At length the shaman’s guardian spirit or pain told him the location of
the disease object, and then he could see or feel it. Often the shaman
learned further from the spirit just who it was who had sent the disease
object to plague his patient.
Curing the afflicted was accomplished next by the shaman’s sucking this
pain or disease object out of some portion of the person’s body. The
evil pain could be any curious small object and this the shaman
exhibited to all present. The malignant pain was disposed of in a number
of ways. It might be sent back to the owner who sent it, that is, the
offending shaman. Or, it might be sent to his children who would be
doomed because a shaman could not doctor his own pain. Other times the
curing shaman would destroy the disease object by biting it and burning
it or dispose of it by taking the pain into his own charmed body.
When a whole community had been affected by a pain sent by an evil
shaman, the pain usually hid in the bushes nearby. In such a case, the
shaman had to be very powerful to get the best of the situation. First
he conducted the ceremony of detection of one victim in the usual sweat
house manner. Once the shaman found out where the trouble was, he went
outdoors with the villagers to help in corraling the offending pain.
Frequently only after a lengthy search was he successful in finding the
pain and then capturing it. Upon taking it into his body it might be so
powerful as to cause him to go into a trance. In this event his
assistants had to support him bodily, and had to sing for him, otherwise
the shaman might die. Without wishing to appear facetious or
disparaging, it can be said that a good shaman had to be an excellent
showman as well.
Sucking Shamans were obligated to accept all cases which they were asked
to treat. If they refused any and the afflicted died, then the shamans
might be killed themselves by relatives of the persons who succumbed.
The thinking was that if a shaman refused a case, he must have had
something to do with making the person sick in the first place.
Payment was always made to the shaman. The amount was determined by the
patient’s relatives. They would take the offering to the shaman when
engaging him, but payment was not made at that time. The shaman looked
over the proffered payment and might ask for more or for a different
kind of payment. To give himself a foolproof alibi in case of failure to
cure, and to increase his prestige if he did cure, he might reply to the
effect that “The beads already have the smell of death on them, but I’ll
see what I can do about it.” The payment was placed near the patient
during healing treatment and was not actually collected by the shaman if
the patient died within a few weeks or months. The shaman’s assistants
were also paid, but in lesser amounts.
[Illustration: Maidu shaman ceremonial neck pendant knife of
obsidian, nine and one half inches long (after Dixon)]
Besides the main function of curing, other good powers of the shamans
were the ability to foretell future events, to see what was going on at
distant places, and to locate lost or stolen articles. Among certain
tribes control of weather was also possible by Sucking Shamans—among
others there were special shamans with weather power.
Evil powers of Sucking Shamans could cause illness or death. This was
done by talking to the pain and sending it to the victim. The shaman
might put it on the end of a willow stick and point it at the person
while singing and smoking tobacco. This could go on all night.
Transmission of the pain to the intended victim was facilitated by
contact, such as sneaking up behind him and touching him, or by putting
the disease pain in his food or under his doorstep. The bad pain might
also be dispatched by blowing it through a pipe or putting it in the
victim’s pipe, or by talking to the shaman’s own animal spirit,
injecting the pain into it and then sending the animal to the victim.
This power animal might just take it to the intended person, or it might
actually attack and bite him. If the evil pain had been successfully
sent, and the intended dire results occurred, the relatives of the
victim had a moral right to kill the offending shaman, without fear of
retaliation. It seems that the culprit was usually recognized—obviously
often mistakenly. It follows that shamans’ lives were somewhat
precarious, not knowing who was going to find damning evidence against
them.
By somewhat the same means as described above shamans could steal a
person’s spirit or soul, rendering that person liable to quick and sure
death from the slightest accident or illness. Shamans could be hired to
perform these evil powers.
Singing Shamans were dreamers foretelling the future and telling the
living what their dead relatives wanted them to do. The Singing Shaman
was always male among mountain Maidu. Our other tribes did not have this
specialist, instead such powers were in the repertoire of the Sucking
Shaman.
Among Yana and Yahi tribes, apparently, weather doctoring could be done
by any shaman, and this was usually the case among Atsugewi. However,
mountain Maidu had specialized Weather Shamans. These were men who were
capable not only of producing rain, snow, or hail, but also fog and high
winds, or ending any of these.
Rattlesnake Shamans were generally women among Atsugewi and men among
mountain Maidu. They could protect people from rattlesnakes or cure
bites. The latter was accomplished by sucking which removed snakes and
snakes’ teeth from the wound.
Bear Shamans did not exist among Yana tribes. Among Atsugewi and
mountain Maidu these were not specialists, instead bear power was an
additional skill of Sucking Shamans. They were almost always men and
pertained not to Black Bear, but only to the California Grizzly. They
wore bear skin, hair, teeth, and claws and simulated the bear’s actions
in treating patients. Bear Shamans were called primarily to minister to
bear wounded persons from whom they sucked out bear blood and teeth.