20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Shamanism in North Asia as a religious phenomenon. A brief note... 523a different root of this word in Tungus 3 was attested by the Secret Historyof Mongols 4 as bäki or bö’e. The Uygur and the Tatars adopted sham fromTungus and through Gyla Németh’s linguistic exam we know the semanticequivalency between kam and sham which means ‘religious dancer’ 5 .Later, this hypothesis was contested by M. Eliade and G.J. Ramstedt 6 .An interesting and maybe the first Medieval Latin source to attest the wordchan – Itinerarium fratris Willelmi de Rubruk de ordine fratrum minorumanno gratie millesimo ducentesimo LIII ad partes orientales, San Giovannid’Acri 1255 – mentions the basic functions of the Altaic shamans beforethe Gengis Khan (1155-1227) époque. In this source we find the associationbetween the divinatory and magic function of shamanism, from whichderived various rituals such as the magic formula incantation or carminarhythms, the frenetic tambour percussion, the god meat offerings 7 , and soon. To conclude, the shamans are masters of divinization for both naturalphenomena (eclipse) and human activities (wars, celebrations, etc.). Forindividual events, shaman fulfilled the function of prediction (both astraland dreams interpretation).Culianu, analysing Eliade’s contribution on shamanic sacerdotalfunction, points to the ‘dead scenario’ and the ‘psychological resurrection’,obligatory stages of initiation for the young neophyte on the way tobecoming shaman. He will be confirmed to this important function onlyafter his initiation, an incipient but crucial legitimization of his sacredpowers. 8 While in ecstasy, the soul of the young initiate will travel all theway to the supreme divinity, the sacred space where he will receive thefinal initiation. The soul will turn back into his body and, his soul, togetherwith his body, will be ‘resurrected’ and to the condition of shaman. Thiscontact with the sacred world, contained within the myth structure, wasentirely described by ELIADE in his Aspectes du mythe (ELIADE 1963,30-31): “D’une façon générale on peut dire que le mythe, tel qu’il estvécu par les sociétés archaïques, 1° constitue l’Histoire des actes des ÊtresSurnaturels; 2° que cette Histoire est considéré absolument vraie (parcequ’elle se rapporte à des réalités); 3° que le mythe se rapporte toujours àune «création», il raconte comment quelque chose est venu à l’existence, oucomment un comportement, une institution, une manière de travailler ont été3Sha/sa, cf. Vilmos Diószegi 1974: 638-641.42 ed. rev. Igor de Rachewiltz 2005.5B. Laufer 1917: 367-71.6Eliade 1964: 495-496.7Ibidem: 120.8Culianu 1978: 78.