Shaman's Hat
date: label: Accession Date
content: 4 Jan 1887
name: label: Collector
content: William J. Fisher
label: Donor Name
content: William J. Fisher
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "a-chlu-gak." Illus. Fig. 197, p. 209 in Crowell, Aron, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar. 2001. Looking both ways: heritage and identity of the Alutiiq people. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=231 , retrieved 9-22-2011: Hat, Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), Koniag. all'ugaq "hat" Language: Koniag Sugpiaq (Alaska Peninsula dialect) This Sugpiaq hat belonged to a shaman from the Sugpiaq and Yup'ik vi'lage of Ugashik on the Alaska Peninsula. It was part of a set of clothing that included a charm belt with brown (grizzly) bear claws, a bird-shaped rattle, whistle, and bracelets made from river otter snouts (See E127802 - 7). The front and back of the hat are black-painted skin, stitched with caribou hair and colored thread. The side panels are white caribou fur, and the band around the bottom is seal skin with an inset piece of caribou. Patches of grizzly (brown) bear hair are tucked into the seams. Similar tall, pointed skin hats were worn for rituals and ceremonies in both the Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) and Unangan (Aleut) regions.(1) In his 1885 field notes, Smithsonian collector William J. Fisher wrote about this set of shaman's clothing: "These articles were formerly used by the shaman in his rites. Shamanism does not exist at present among the Ugashagamyts (people of Ugashik village) and Agliamyutes (Yup'ik people of the upper Alaska Peninsula), all of them being members of the Greek Catholic (Russian Orthodox) Church. Specimens of Shamanism are extremely rare at present, the Russian priests making relentless war upon and destroying them, whenever found."(2) Sugpiaq shamans, who could be male or female, were believed to have powers that could be used for both good and evil purposes.(3) It was said that they could cure the sick, quell storms, read minds, change into animals, dive into the earth, fly through the air, and see into the future.(4) In the Sugpiaq language, the original word for shaman is kala'alek, meaning "one who has kala'aq [a helping spirit or supernatural power]." A shaman's helping spirits - who were birds, animals, or human souls - informed him about events in distant places, transported him on journeys to other worlds, and helped or harmed people according to his wishes.(5) Parts of the Ugashik shaman's outfit, such as the grizzly bear hair seen on the hat, the bird rattle, and river otter bracelets, are probably charms that helped to summon and control these spirit helpers. Despite the efforts of missionaries, Sugpiaq Elders remember that some shamans (now often called samanaqs) were active until the 1940s or even later. Some are remembered for the evil spells they cast. An evil shaman would make a cloth or wooden image of his enemy, adding some of that person's hair or piece of his clothing. The shaman would cut the doll or stick it with pins to wound the intended victim. The dolls were placed near doorways and trails to harm the person as he or she walked past.(6) Other shamans are renowned for their knowledge of traditional medicine and for using their powers to serve the community. One shaman named Pugla'allria is remembered for saving an entire fleet of sea otter hunters by pulling them back to the village of Katmai along a path of calm water.(7) 1. Hunt 2000; Varjola 1990:177-181 2. Fisher, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 305, Accession 18490 3. Crowell et al. 2001:208-211 4. Birket Smith 1953:128-132; Desson 1995:138-158; Gideon 1989:59-60; Lisianski 1968:207-08; Pinart 1873 5. Birket-Smith 1953:127-129 6. Crowell et al. 2001:208-210 7. Partnow 1993:253-256
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Reference: Crowell, Aron. “Postcontact Koniag Ceremonialism on Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula: Evidence from the Fisher Collection.” Arctic Anthropology 29, no. 1 (1992): 18–37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40316240. Copy of this article is attached to accession record.
label: Notes
content: 1989 analysis of fur by Bonnie Farmer, NMNH Dept. of Vertebrate Zoology: Phoca vitulina / Harbor (Common) seal: Blackish and cream colored, short hairs forming band around bottom edge. Rangifer tarandus / Caribou/Reindeer: Used to create white stitching; also patch on band around bottom edge. Unknowns/Tentative Identifications: 1. The long, fine wavy hair appears to consist solely of fur hair with exception of three or four strands; pigment distribution is most similar to wolf but microscopic structure is questionable; the fur is microscopically similar to both Canis lupus (Gray wolf) and Ursus arctos (Grizzly/Alaskan Brown Bear). 2. Two large patches of whitish hair that form sides of hat, are similar to both Rangifer tarandus (Caribou/Reindeer) and Odocoileus hemionus (Mule (Blacktail) deer).
label: Record Last Modified
content: 13 Feb 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Ugashik, Alaska Peninsula / Ugashik River, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), Koniag
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 018490
label: USNM Number
content: E127804-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Hat
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 25 cm