Mediators between the world of spirits and the world of men may be divided into two classes: The shamans, whose authority was entirely dependent on their individual ability, and the priests, who acted in some measure for the tribe or nation, or at least for some society.

Shaman is explained variously as a Persian word meaning ‘pagan’, or, with more likelihood, as the Tungus equivalent for ‘medicine-man’, and was originally applied to the medicine-men or exorcists in Siberian tribes, from which it was extended to similar individuals among the Indian tribes of America.

Among the Haida and Tlingit, shamans performed practically all religious functions, including, as usual, that of physician, and occasionally a shaman united the civil with the religious power by being a town or house chief also. Generally speaking, he obtained his position from an uncle, inheriting his spiritual helpers just as he might his material wealth; but there were also shamans who became such owing to natural fitness. In either case the first intimation of his new power was given by the man falling senseless and remaining in that condition for a certain period. Elsewhere in North America, however, the sweat bath was an important assistant in bringing about the proper psychic state, and certain individuals became shamans after escaping from a stroke of lightning or the jaws of a wild beast. When treating a patient or otherwise performing, a northwest coast shaman was supposed to be possessed by a supernatural being whose name he bore and whose dress he imitated, and among the Tlingit this spirit was often supported by several minor spirits which were represented upon the shaman’s mask and strengthened his eyesight, sense of smell, etc. He let his hair grow long, never cutting or dressing it. When performing he ran around the fire very rapidly in the direction of the sun, while his assistant heat upon a wooden drum and his friends sang the spirit songs and beat upon narrow pieces of board. Then the spirit showed him what he was trying to discover, the location of a whale or other food animal, the approach of an enemy, or the cause of the sickness of a patient. In the latter case he removed the object that was causing pain by blowing upon the affected part, sticking at it, or rubbing a charm upon it. If the soul had wandered, he captured and restored it, and in case the patient had been bewitched he revealed the name of the offender and directed how he was to be handled. Payment for his services must always be made in advance, but in case of failure it was usually returned, while among some tribes failure was punished with death. Shamans also performed sleight-of-hand feats to show their power, and two shamans among hostile people would fight each other through the air by means of their spirits, while no war party started off without one.

The ideas behind shamanistic practices in other American tribes were very much the same as these, but the forms which they took varied considerably. Thus instead of being actually possessed, Iroquois shamans and probably others controlled their spirits objectively as if they were handling so many instruments, while Chitimacha shamans consulted their helpers in trances.

Among the Nootka there were two classes of shamans, the Ucták-u, or ‘workers’, who cured a person when sickness was thrown upon him by an enemy or when it entered in the shape of an insect, and the K’ok-oā’tsmaah, or ‘soul workers’, especially employed to restore a wandering soul to its body.

The Songish of the southern end of Vancouver Island also had two sorts of shamans. Of these the higher, called the squnä’am, acquired his power in the usual way by intercourse with supernatural beings, while the sī’oua, who was usually a woman, received her knowledge from another sī’oua. The former answered more nearly to the common type of shaman, while the function of the latter was to appease hostile powers, to whom she spoke a sacred language. She was also applied to by women who desired to bear children, and for all kinds of charms.

Among the interior Salish the initiation of shamans and warriors seems to have taken place in one and the same manner, i. e. through animals which became the novices’ guardian spirits. Kutenai shamans had special lodges in the camp larger than the rest, in which they prayed and invoked the spirits.

The Hupa of California recognized two sorts of shamans: the dancing shamans, who determined the cause of disease and the steps necessary for recovery, and other shamans, who after locating the trouble removed it by sucking. Mohave shamans usually receive their powers directly from Mastamho, the chief deity, and acquire them by dreaming rather than the more usual methods of fasting, isolation, petition, etc. Dixon records this latter feature also among the Shasta. The Maidu seem to have presented considerable variations within one small area. In some sections heredity played little part in determining who should become a shaman, but in the northeast part of the Maidu country all of a shaman’s children were obliged to take up his profession or the spirits would kill them. There were two sorts of shamans, the shaman proper, whose functions were mainly curative, and the “dreamer,” who communicated with spirits and the ghosts of the dead. All shamans were also dreamers, but not the reverse. During the winter months the dreamers held meetings in darkened houses, where they spoke with the spirits much like modern spirit mediums. At other times the shamans of the foothill region met to see which was most powerful, and danced until all but one had dropped out. One who had not had a shaman for a parent had to go into the mountains to a place where some spirit was supposed to reside, fast, and go through certain ceremonies, and when a shaman desired to obtain more powerful helpers than those he possessed lie did the same. Shamans in this region always carried cocoon rattles.

Hoffman enumerates three classes of shamans among the Chippewa, in addition to the herbalist or doctor, properly so considered. These were the wâběnō’, who practiced medical magic, the jěs’sakī’d, who were seers and prophets deriving their power from the thunder god, and the midē’, who were concerned with the sacred society the Midē’wiwin, and should rather be regarded as priests.

These latter were evidently represented among the Delaware by the medeu, who concerned themselves especially with healing, while there was a separate class of diviners called powwow, or `dreamers.’

Unlike most shamans, the angakunirn of the Central Eskimo communicated with their spirits while seated. It was their chief duty too find out the breaking of what taboos had caused sickness or storms.

As distinguished from the calling of a shaman, that of a priest was, as has been said. national or tribal rather than individual, and if there were considerable ritual his function might be more that of leader in the ceremonies and keeper of the sacred myths than direct mediator between spirits and men. Sometimes, as on the northwest coast and among the Eskimo, the functions of priest and shaman might be combined, and the two terns have been used so interchangeably by writers, especially when applied to the Eastern tribes, that it is often difficult to tell which is the proper one.

Even where shamanism flourished most there was a tendency for certain priestly functions to center around the town or tribal chief. This appears among the Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Kwakiutl in the prominent part the chiefs played in secret society performances, and a chief of the Fraser River coast Salish was even more of a high priest than a civil chief, leading his people mall religious functions.

Most of the tribes of the eastern plains contained two classes of men that may be placed in this category. One of these classes consisted of societies which concerned themselves with hearing and applied definite remedies, though at the same time invoking superior powers, and to be admitted to which a man was obliged to pass through a period of instruction. The other was made up of the one or the few men who acted as superior officers in the conduct of national rituals, and who transmitted their knowledge concerning it to an equally limited number of successors. Similar to these, perhaps, were the priests of the Midē’wiwin ceremony among the Chippewa, Menominee, and other Algonquian tribes.

According to Bartram, ” besides several juniors or graduates” there was a high priest in every Creek town. These were persons of consequence and exercised great influence in the state, particularly in military affairs. They would” foretell rain or drought and pretend to bring rain at pleasure, cure diseases, and exorcise witchcraft, invoke or expel evil spirits, and even assume the power of directing thunder and lightning.” The Natchez state was a theocracy in which the head chief, or “Great Sun,” being directly descended from the national lawgiver who had come out of the sun, was ex-officio high priest of the nation, although the guardian of the temple seems to have relieved him partially of his priestly duties. The rest of the Suns shared in their functions to a minor degree, they forming a sacred caste.

Doubtless the most highly developed priesthood north of Mexico, however, is among the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona, where it controls the civil and military branches of the tribe, transforming it in to a theocratic oligarchy. The rain priesthood is a body almost entirely composed of men whose duty it is by secret prayers and fasts to bring plentiful supplies of rain. The priesthood of the bow is really a war society whose ceremonies are held to give thanks for abundant crops, or, after a scalp had been taken, to bring about rain through the pleasure that the taking of this scalp gives to the anthropic gods, the controllers of the rain. The two head priests of the bow and the rain priests of the six cardinal points form the fountain head of all authority and the court of last appeal in Zuñi. Each of these, except the priest of the zenith, has several assistants, and the priestess of fecundity, the female assistant of the priest of the north, who stands highest in rank, possesses very great authority. Below these are the society of Kótikilli and the esoteric societies. All male Zuñi and very rarely some females are admitted into the former, which deals directly with the anthropic gods and whose ceremonials are for the purpose of bringing rain. The esoteric societies, however, have to do mainly with the zoic or beast gods and are primarily healing societies. A patient may be treated by them at the time of the ceremonies or he may send for a single member. These societies also hold very important ceremonies to bring rain, but they effect this mediately through the influence which the beast gods are supposed to exert upon the anthropic gods. The active members of these societies, including the Kótikilli also, in contradistinction to the rain and war priests, are called by a special name “theurgists,” but their functions approach nearer to those of priests than of shamans (Stevenson).

Consult further:

  1. Bartram, Travels, 1791;
  2. Boas, Bourke, Cushing, Dorsey, Hoffman, Mooney, Russell, and Mrs Stevenson in Reps. B. A. E.;
  3. Boas in Reps. Brit. Asso. Adv. Sci.;
  4. Boas in Rep. Nat. Mus. 1895, 1897;
  5. Brinton, The Lenape and their Legends, 1885;
  6. Chamberlain in Jour. Am. Folk-lore, xiv, no. 53, 1901;
  7. Curtis, N. Am. Ind., 1907-09;
  8. Cushing in Pop. Sci. Mo., June 1882;
  9. Dixon in Jour. Am. Folklore, xvii, no. 64, 1904;
  10. Gatschet, Creek Migr. Leg., i, ii, 1884-88;
  11. Goddard, Life and Culture of the Hupa, 1903;
  12. Krause, Tlinkitlnd.,1885;
  13. Kroeber in Am. Anthr., iv, 2, 1902;
  14. Teit in Mem. Am. Nat. Hist., ii, no. iv, 1900;
  15. Teit and Swanton in Mem. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., II and v, 1905.