The term ‘shaman’ was taken from Russian sources in the seventeenth century, the word itself coming from the language of the Evenks (Tungus), an eastern Siberian people. A century later the derivative term ‘shamanism’ was coined. Among the Evenks the ‘shaman’ (man or woman) occupies a central position in *ritual and *religious practices. He or she is the mediator between the human world and the world of spirits, between the living and the dead, and between animals and human society. Endowed with clairvoyance and assisted by helper spirits, a shaman fills many social and religious roles including those of soothsayer, therapist and interpreter of dreams.
He or she also plays an offensive and defensive role in the protection of his or her group against the aggressive actions of other shamans or displeased spirits. During public seances, he or she is able to cross profane (see *sacred and profane) frontiers of *time and space, and of surface reality, and has the power to journey into the beyond and make contact with spirits. At major transitions in the life cycle and in the cycle of seasonal activity, as at times of crisis, disorder, war, famine or illness, the shaman give services to the group (freely), and to individuals (with some expectation of return).
Individuals with analogous attributes, roles and functions were described in many other groups by travellers, explorers and missionaries, especially in the Americas. These individuals were designated in the latters’ accounts by various names: ‘curandero’ in Spanish, ‘wizard’, ‘medicine man’ in English, ‘jongleur’, ‘sorcier’ or ‘magicien’ in French, ‘giocolare’ in Italian and ‘Gaulker’ in. German (Eliade [1951] 1964, Flaherty 1992). From the beginning of the nineteenth century however, ‘shaman’ and ‘shamanism’ gradually replaced the others and became generic terms applicable in other regions of the world such as the *Pacific, *Africa, *South, *East and *Southeast Asia and Australia, in addition to the Americas and Siberia, without the previous terms disappearing altogether.
This is the complete article, containing 321 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
