The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-08-19
MASKS RECALL :.
OLD SHAMAN|SM
Carvings Throw Light on Super
stitions of Alaska.
IMPLICIT FAITH OF NATIVES

WOuio 1o 1uHHTy hdtHcT IMAM wv
cur His Dispieasure by Eating Foods
Which He Tabooed-Land Otter Too
Sacred to Be Killed.
Bourke of Valdez, Alaska, carved from
a single piece of wood, brightly col
ored, with long wooden tendrils pro-
truding from the top of the head like
a devil f1sh's arm, recall to those ia
miliar with the natives of Alaska their
age-old shamanism.
Shamanism, or superstition and sor-
Gerry, always has played an important
part In the life Of the Alaskan native.
So implicitly did these natives of
not many years ago believe In the
words and actions of the shaman that
a whole tribe would go hungry rather
than incur his displeasure by eating
foods which he had tabooed.
The shaman attained his position
and power by unusual methods. BY
fasting and prayer amid the solitudes
of the woods or mountains. where he
fed only upon grasses and roots, he
prepared himself to become a shaman.
BY this method, 1t was conceded, the
candidates body became sufficiently
purified to become the abiding place
of the spirits, and all successful
shamans had to have numerous spirits
at their immediate command. Usually
the spirit willing to abide with the
shaman sent the novitiate a land otter
which the candidate killed. The otter's
tongue he preserved as a talisman
away from all human view, for should
the talisman ever be seen, 1t was be-
lieved the shaman would go insane or
be turned into the animal from which
the tongue was taken. The skin of
the otter was kept by the shaman as
a sign of his profession.
Otter a Sacred Animal.
Thus 1t came about that the land
otter was regarded as too sacred an
animal TO be killed by other than the
shamans, and neither Aleutian natives
nor those of the mainland would kill
the otter until long after the coming
of the Russians.
Sometimes 1t happened that the fast
ing and prayer in solitude did not
bring to the would-be shaman the
spirits craved. In this emergency he
betook himself, still fasting, to the
grave Of some deceased shaman and
passed a night with the corpse, taking
one of the teeth of the cadaver In his
mouth. Upon the shaman's return 10
his tribe his skill was then tested by
a shaman of known powers.
For each spirit which the shaman
could produce he had a separate
wooden mask with features as hor-
rible as the tastes of the carver could
devise.
Healer and Prophet.
The shaman had many duties to per
form. He vas supposed to heal the
sick, to cast out the devils from the
frail bodies of his subjects. to foretell
the future, and with the aid of his
spirits to enable one to avoid misfor.
tune and disaster. The tricks of his
trade, paraphernalia and charms gen
orally descended from father TO son
The sllaman's hair was never cut, foI
to lose his locks would be to lose his
| DONCtS. etitn hC diCa nC eao AOi
cremated. After death his body was
allowed to remain I'm the spot where
death came for "a hours, so that the
wandering spirit might find Its tene
ment of clay should 1t so desire. Wher
two suns had waned the body wa
removed to another corner of the
house, this procedure continuing unit
the body had rested in every corner
Meanwhile the inmates of the hous'
tasted.
At last, dressed In full regalia, thu
body was dashed to a board. One o
the two bone sticks used by every we'll
accoutered shaman was place,
through the hair and the other through
the orifce cut in the nose. The hea'
was covered with a basket woven o
small twigs and grass, and at nigh
the body was carried secretly to SOM
> remote cavern or crevice. Thereafte
, the members of the tribe never entere,
, this burial place, for 1t was SUPPOSE
to be filed with evil spirits.
Mr.. Bourke's collection of nativ
! masks, weapons and utensils Is sal
: to be one Of the finest In Alaska.