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A female Shaman (in the middel) with the group of Koryaks. Eastern Siberia, Primorsk oblast, Petropavlovskiyi region. Koryak. Collector V.K. Arsenyev. 1915 |
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A Shaman and his escort set out for a ritual seance at another campground. Far East, Khabarovsk okrug, Udeghe (Udekhe) Collector E.R. Shneider. 1930-1931 |
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A ritual healing seance for a sick man. Krasnoyarsk region, Khakas. Collector Minuinsk Museum1939 |
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| A Shaman during a ritual seance. Oirat Autonomous oblast, Altai. Collector M.P. Gryaznov. 1930s |
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| Images of Shaman's Helper Spirits. Eastern Siberia, Primorsk oblast, Sakhlin island. Late 19th early 20th cen. Nivkh (Gilyak) |
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| Image of a Shaman`s chief helper spirit. Far Earstern region, Amur area. Collector E.R. Shneider. First quarter of the 20th cen. |
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| A spirit-ancestor of the Shaman. Udeghe (Udekhe). Early 20th cen. |
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Journey to Other Worlds: Shamanism among the Siberian Peoples
The exhibition Journey to Other Worlds: Shamanism among the Siberian Peoples, to open in the Russian Museum of Ethnography, reflects a unique phenomenon in the traditional beliefs and practices among peoples of the Extreme North, Siberia, and the Far East - shamanism.
Siberian peoples considered the shaman as one chosen at birth to be an intermediary between man and the sacral world, who possessed the ability both to see an other reality and travel through other worlds of the Universe. During one ritual - called 'kamlanie' (derived from the Turkic word 'kame,' a geological term denoting the mound of sand or gravel left behind by a melting glacier) - the shaman initiated contact with spirits and souls of the Upper, Middle, and Lower worlds.
Shamanistic practices were associated with the life cycle of an individual as well as the society as a whole. Usual responsibilities were healing, fortune-telling and predictions, the performance of domestic and hunting rites as well as funeral ceremonies (sending-off spirits of the dead).
Clothing and personal effects - a drum and a baton for beating it, a staff, or an image of a spirit helper - held a particular, symbolic significance in shamanic practice, and these outward appearances reflected status and indicated sacral power. Items from the Museum's own collection to be on display here which give an opportunity to present the shaman as a preserver of his people's sacral knowledge, their beliefs and traditions, as a defender of his or her community, as well as a intermediary between humans and otherworldly souls and spirits, have been on exhibit in several countries over the last decade.
The exhibition of Journey to Other Worlds: Shamanism among the Siberian Peoples includes almost 200 items relevant to shamanism from 25 native Siberian ethnic groups (the Altaians Buryats, Chukchi, Dolgans, Evens, Evenks, Kets, Khakas, Khanty, Koryaks, Mansi, Nanai, Negidalts, Nganasans, Nenets, Nivkh, Oroks, Oroches, Selkups, Shors, Tofalars, Tuvinians, Udege, Ulchi, and Yakuts). This exhibit diverges from past projects in that the concept elaborated by its creators affords an appreciation of both the general borders and the specific lines of shamanistic beliefs among Siberian and Far East peoples. With the objective world of famous and lesser known Siberian shamans, the exhibit is also reveals elements of syncretism, which appeared in shamanism under the influence of Christianity and Buddhism.
At the exhibit's center are a number of objects from the shaman's chum (nomad tent). This includes sculpted images of spirits protectors in the Upper and Lower worlds and also sculptures of spirit-helpers, who accompanied shamans in their journeys through worlds of the Universe and during the ritual 'kamlanie.' In this area will also be the clothing of Evenk shaman Dokholokto, his drum, and other relevant pieces from his belongings.
In the section Hunting Kamlanie, a partial reconstruction of the Ket and Khanty sacred places will be on display with the ceremony's ritual objects from the Nenets sanctuaries.
Perhaps the exhibit's most important part may be the Altai, Khakas, and Evenk drums depicting the Universe together with a wide array of shamanic dress (the clothing of Buryat shaman Damba, Evenki shaman S. Urkanov, of a Chukchi shaman, a Koryak's cross-dressing female shaman, of a Nanai female shaman ['shamanka'], and also that of Altai, Selkup, Ket, Udege, and Tofalar shamans). Shamanic dress and drums will be as at the symbolic center of the exhibit space and will show several composite parts: 'The Mythological Picture and Model of the World;' 'Ideas of the Soul,' 'The Shaman's Development,' 'Hunting Kamlanie,' 'Family Shamanism,' 'Fortune-telling,' 'Healing Kamlanie,' 'Sending-off the Soul of the Dead,' and 'Shamanism and World Religions.' Also to be on display will be some of the attributes of Buryat shaman-lama Khonzhon-Dagbo and the Buryat female shamans Ogda and Akhanova, in addition to healing amulets, bronze and brass mirrors, several staffs, representations of the shaman's spirit-helpers, and drawings by a Nanai female shaman, depicting mythological images of the world alongside the process of her becoming a shaman.
Also to be on display at the Russian Museum of Ethnography will be two artifacts from the archives of the Linden-Museum (Stuttgart, Germany) - the holiday garments of a Yakut woman and a wooden anthropomorphic figure for ceremonial use. The anthropomorphic idol was found not far from the city of Irkutsk at the beginning of the 20th century by famous collector E. Alexander who gave it to the Stuttgart Museum. Another collector sent a photograph documenting the discovery of this particular item to the Ethnographic department at the Russian Museum of Alexander III (today, the Russian Museum of Ethnography). The conjunction was uncovered during joint preparations with the Linden-Museum for the exhibition Siberian Shamans, which successfully ran its course in Stuttgart from December 2008 until June of 2009.
Also of interest in Journey to Other Worlds: Shamanism of the Siberian Peoples will be a multimedia installation and a number of unique photographs from the end of the 19th to the middle of the 20th centuries from the Museum's photoarchive. Coinciding with the exhibition, researchers will deliver lectures on the theme 'Shamanism of the Siberian Peoples and their Neighboring Territories' with a round table discussion on that theme to follow.
The Russian museum of Ethnography thanks the advertising agency "Nebo" for preparing and making an advertisement for the exhibition "Journey to other worlds: Shamanism among the Siberian Peoples"
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