Chapter 2 Preface What is Shamanism

Shamanism researchers at home and abroad generally regard the earliest witchcraft religious relics in the world as early examples of shamanism.In this sense, shamanism has the same connotation as early human religions, and it is equivalent to what most scholars call primitive religion. Shamanism is a primitive religion.Shamanism is not created, but spontaneously produced.There may be very famous great wizards in its history, but there is no clear founder; its main beliefs and rituals are spontaneously formed in clans, tribes, and national societies and passed down from generation to generation.

The word shaman first appeared in the historical records of our country.It is recorded in the "Three Dynasties Beimenghui" in the Song Dynasty: "The Wu family is treacherous and talented.... The people of the country are called Shanman. The Shanman, the Jurchen language witch, is flexible like a god." About the word shaman The results of source research do not necessarily lead to conclusions about Shamanism. The term "Shamanism" has become a common language in academic circles, and it is a general term for religious cultural systems or religious phenomena covering many ethnic groups.For example, the ethnic groups in northern China have their own shamanism with different contents, and each ethnic group has different names for shamanism.The Mongolian people call the male shaman "Boe" and the female shaman "Odegen"; the Yakuts call the shaman "Aoyun", the Daur people call the shaman "Yadegen", Tatar The Shaman is called "Kam" by the Kazakh and Kazakh ethnic groups, and some are also called "Aoyun" or "Bakshi".Therefore, the research on the emergence of shamanism should go beyond the scope of tracing the origin of the word shaman.

But the word shaman has aroused some researchers' many associations about the origin and distribution area of ​​shamanism.With the support of a large number of Siberian shamanism survey materials in the early days, some scholars believe that Tunguska shamanism has an important influence on other ethnic groups, and the origin of Tunguska people and the origin of shamanism should be investigated together.A considerable number of scholars believe that the core area of ​​Shamanism is North Asia and Central Asia. In the 20th century, more and more scholars paid great attention to the religious phenomena found in North and South America, Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania, and believed that they were religious phenomena similar to shamanism in terms of type and function.Famous shamanism scholar M. Eliyad believes that the shamanism in the strict sense is the most typical phenomenon of shamanism in Siberia and Central Asia.Additionally, shamanic ideologies and techniques were found among primitive peoples in Australia, the Malay Archipelago, South America, North America, and elsewhere.There are also views that regard Northern Europe as the birthplace of shamanism, and there are even more extreme opinions that the cradle of shamanism is the Arctic region, claiming that only in the Arctic people can there be a real shaman-controlled coma, and it should be called the Great Shamanism.

In the middle of the 20th century, the book "Shamanism-Ancient Coma Alchemy" by the famous religious scientist Elijah was published. This book put forward the view that shamanism = coma, which aroused an upsurge of shamanism research worldwide.In this way, religious phenomena explained in the name of shamanism are no longer limited to North Asia, Central Asia, and Northern Europe, but spread all over the world.The research on shamanism is more in-depth, the scale is expanding day by day, and the scope is wider, which makes shamanism become a special discipline - "Shamanology".

At present, the most widely popular normative research on shamanism in the world is to classify the various combination factors of shamanism, regard them as the characteristics of shamanism, and summarize the essence of shamanism according to these characteristics and the specific system composed of these characteristics.The understanding of the characteristics of shamanism focuses on shamanic coma behavior, shamanic patron saint and spirit assistance system, hallucinations, soul travel to other worlds, shamanic cosmic characteristics, etc.Scholars often use these characteristics as a frame of reference for judging the shamanism of various ethnic groups and regions. Some shamanism lacking some of the above-mentioned characteristics is considered to be incomplete shamanism or marginal shamanism.

The question of "characteristics" of shamanism is a very useful tool for identifying the basic content and cultural system of shamanism of various nationalities. It partially reveals shamanism as a social and cultural phenomenon and the typical characteristics of shamanism in a certain historical stage. The standardization of research and the establishment of a theoretical reference system for understanding shamanism are extremely beneficial.However, there are also serious shortcomings in judging the essence of Shamanism based on the "characteristic theory".Scholars have often argued that certain features are the most important to the entire shamanic phenomenon, and have taken such typical things as the key to understanding the complex phenomenon of shamanism as a whole.Hence the tendency in knowledge about shamanism to cover all other phenomena with typical ones.It is precisely because of this deficiency that there have always been multiple standards and contradictory views on Shamanism.

The essence of shamanism, like other religions, is about the belief and worship of gods, so it should not be excluded from religion.Shamanism is a religion, that's for sure.Shamanism establishes a variety of specific beliefs and worship objects based on the general religious consciousness, and establishes religious behavior patterns such as communication, utilization, prayer, worship, or defense, driving, and fighting with these objects; Shaman serves among them The social organization of the shaman constrains and regulates the common beliefs and various religious behaviors of the society, determines the social role and social role of the shaman, and uses them to serve the real social life order and social organization system.Therefore, shamanism should be regarded as the unity of three aspects: the core of belief concepts and worship objects, the customary religious experience of shamans and ordinary believers, the standardized belief and worship behavior, and the blood relationship or regional relationship as the form of activity. social and cultural system.

Some scholars believe that shamanism is essentially a practice of witchcraft, which is repeatedly repeated as a means of survival.Due to the direct utilitarianism and specificity of the objects it serves, this witchcraft religion has certain limitations in unifying people's beliefs.Shamans, as practitioners of witchcraft, have no relationship with their followers other than that of a patient and a doctor.Shamanic behavior depends on the culture that supports it, not on a specific social organization.The author believes that this view lacks a perspective of social development and a perspective of historical foundation.The unity of shamanism is not judged by gods. Even in the highest stage of shamanism, the pattern of polytheism still exists.The unity of shamanistic beliefs is manifested in the common recognition by a certain belief group of their own worship objects, and these objects, as sacred traditions, are the starting point of common religious activities.In the northern peoples, social organizations based on blood ties have been partners with the objects of belief for a long period of time. They are interdependent, serve each other, and are inseparable.Therefore, social organization is an inevitable external form of Shamanism, and as a basic component of Shamanism, it is determined by the characteristics of the emergence and development of this religion.

The social system dominated by consanguinity has long since disappeared, but the consanguinity-regional residence pattern has prevailed. The social relations largely maintain patriarchal relations, and social relations are still based on the patriarchal family background.In the modern life where people still maintain patriarchal relationship, the function of blood relationship still plays a role in shamanism to some extent.For example, shamans have adopted the form of maintaining tradition in the name of ancestor gods. Various types of shamans often interpret the gods they lead and the reasons for becoming shamans as summons and orders from ancestors.Although shamans constantly absorb foreign gods and incorporate them into their shrines, a certain isolation mentality has not been completely eliminated, or they have been placed outside the gods of their own ancestral system; The blood relationship is passed down, so that they are eligible to become ancestor gods.

In today's various ethnic groups, shamanism has not been completely separated from the blood relationship, and the values ​​it embodies still play a certain role in the social background of the patriarchal relationship.Therefore, the etiquette of offering sacrifices to ancestors is relatively common among northern peoples. It is integrated with people's ethical concepts of remembering and admiring ancestors, and thus has become a popular folk custom.But this kind of sacrificial behavior is no longer very standardized, and the sacrificial ceremony is not complete. It is only retained in daily life as a part of customs.In some ethnic groups, the history of large-scale clan and family sacrificial activities has just ended, so in the cultural excavation of scholars, clan elders and shamans can still actively cooperate and preside over the sacrificial activities skillfully.These ceremonial performances carried out in accordance with the original tradition give us the opportunity to see the rough and violent primitive sacrificial scenes.

While paying attention to the actual patriarchal relationship, we must also admit that the blood relationship in modern society has long lost the cohesion of the clan era, and people's social network is broader and more open.Clan religion no longer has the restraining effect of the past, and it only shows some practical significance on individual festivals or occasions. With the disintegration of the clan system and the demise of the nation-state, the production and life links between common areas became more frequent and closer, and the organizational form of shamanism activities thus emerged with a regional nature.At the beginning of each year's production activities or harvest, local non-governmental organizations often hold productive prayer activities in some areas, such as offering sacrifices to heaven and obo.There is no clan restriction for this kind of sacrifice, and members of different surnames or different nationalities in the residential area can participate, and the cost of the sacrifice is also shared.After the sacrifice is over, various sports competitions are generally held, so it is also the most lively festival in the local area. The individualization and organization of shamanism activities have always been in a dynamic development that is contradictory and complementary to each other. Even in a relatively closed clan society, the independent witchcraft activities of various people who claim to have religious experience are not completely restricted.In a relatively typical clan society stage, the social role division of different shamans is clear, forming various customary restraint methods, and there are clear classifications in practice.This makes various shamans actually have different social identities and powers.With the disintegration of the clan system, although the clan shaman still has a relatively high prestige, the activity ability and scope of activities of other shamans are also increasing.In particular, the emergence of professional shamans related to national politics has greatly accelerated the process of regionalization and professionalization of shamanism.After the disintegration of the isomorphic state of shamanistic organizations and social organizations, shamanistic behaviors engaged in personal medical activities became very popular.Witchcraft thinking has a direct purpose and specific implementation, and shamans often satisfy the needs of the public by using both soft and hard methods on mysterious objects.What is shown here is still a legacy of a primitive system.It emphasizes the direct gain through witchcraft and the solution of specific problems of the individual.This kind of witchcraft does lack a transpersonal ethical bond that connects shamans and believers into a unified society or moral group, but it still has a cultural tradition that can be relied on and supported for a long period of time.Its activities are still within a network of geographical or kinship relations. Shamanism has long felt the difficulty of communicating with foreign cultures at the same level and seeking further development due to its own historical limitations in nature, content, and time and space during its long cultural development.History has proved that in the conflict of various religions and cultures, it suffered the inevitable fate of decline.Culture is a directional movement, constantly updated along the historical journey from simple to complex.Only by grasping the historical logic of the development of human civilization can we truly understand the contemporary destiny of Shamanism.The changing times of human culture and the replacement of civilization types are bound to be more closely related to the expansion of people's living space, the enrichment of life content and the renewal of activities.As a social and cultural system in history, Shamanism's cultural pursuit and cultural creation have weakened its original vitality, and the elimination of the times is inevitable. Its decline and decline are historically inevitable.