Chapter XXXVI

SHAMANISM AND DOCTORING

Shamans or doctors, more commonly known to modern Americans by the name medicine men, were important in the lives of all Indians but, among ours, probably to the highest degree among the Maidu. Whether we, with our scientific enlightenment today, are after all happier and of greater peace of mind, than the aborigines were or not, is a philosophical consideration beyond the scope of this book. The fact of the matter is that mankind in the past invariably has resorted to the supernatural to explain things not understood. Indians are a case in point—being totally without scientific explanations, mysticism and the supernatural pervaded their whole culture—their every day activities—to a point which to us today seems fantastic, yet understandable in a way. If you and I had been in the Indian’s place, might not we also have subscribed whole heartedly to these same beliefs with which we would have grown up, and which our loved and trusted elders had taught us in good faith? Shamanism gave to the Indians a feeling of comfort and, shall we say, security?—a sort of foundation of faith which all men must have for the living of reasonably satisfying lives.

Shamans were men of influence in the village, with prestige second only to that of the chief. Women shamans were uncommon and usually possessed less potent power. The life of a shaman was precarious because if he failed to effect a high percentage of cures or if he were “proven” responsible for sending pains which caused death to persons, he might be killed—sometimes even with the advance approval of the chief, and without retaliation by the offending shaman’s relatives. When this was done, he was cut into pieces, not for the morbid reasons, the reader might suspect, but for the practical reason that the parts of his body could in this way be disposed of in widely scattered places. Otherwise there was the danger that he might, with the help of his power, be reassembled and again be able to continue his malpractice and to include his murderers among future victims.

There were several kinds of shamans among the local Indians. Each tribe in the Lassen area had the all important Sucking Shaman. Atsugewi and mountain Maidu also had special Bear, Rattlesnake, and Weather Shamans while only Yana had Singing Shamans in addition.

The power of shamans was much more potent than mere “luck” which came easily to the majority of ordinary mortals in dreams, during puberty ceremonies, and the like. This “luck” was a weak supernatural blessing which was not sought, but came voluntarily and gave the person skill and success in crafts and daily pursuits such as fishing, hunting certain animals or birds, canoe making, et cetera.

It would be impractical in this book to give the complicated and voluminous details of all phases of shamanism as conceived and practiced by each of the four local tribes. The following information has been somewhat generalized in the hope that the reader will get the “feel” of the shaman concept which was essentially the same for all the tribes of the Lassen area.

Power was usually sought by men desiring to be shamans, but all were not successful in such quests. On the other hand shamanistic power came to some voluntarily, and it was dangerous not to accept this power if it came to one. To refuse might cause death. One could tell when one was successful in getting power because one would bleed from the nose or mouth. He would also learn to sing and dance, and would receive instructions and paraphernalia from his guardian spirit.

Shamanistic power could be acquired in a number of ways, not all of which applied to each tribe being considered. A rare means was by inheritance. If an old shaman had power and if this power or guardian spirit liked his son or nephew, it would say “Sometimes I’m going to play with that boy” and so it goes to the boy. At sundown the latter listens to it sing to him and he gets the power. The boy learns about it in the vision and from the old shaman’s instructions.

Another infrequent way to gain power was involuntarily when seriously ill, while in a trance, or when dreaming.

The third and usual method of acquiring the shamanistic power was by vision quest. It was a difficult ordeal. This might be undertaken at various times of life, but most commonly at or near puberty. In questing power there was no assurance of success, no matter how sincere a person might be, or how hard he might try. Successful shamans could quest repeatedly for additional powers.

Youths were prepared for questing by being lectured to by fathers or uncles who also pierced their nose septa. Each youth went alone and unclothed into certain portions of the mountains for several days and nights. He slept little and fasted, eating little or nothing at all; all flesh was taboo. The questing usually included swimming in lakes or special pools and placing the nose piercing stick in an underwater niche, and (Yana) securing certain bird feathers. He built a fire, smoking his body over it, and cut himself deliberately. If successful, the power came to him in a trance or faint producing bleeding from the nose or mouth.

The guardian spirit communicated with the novice, appearing in a vision usually. It gave instructions and taught its special ceremonial song. To shamans of some tribes the guardian spirit looked something like a human; to others it looked like a bug or like a small hair. This was the “pain” or poison object and yet was considered to be a guardian spirit at the same time. This is what the novice acquired in becoming a shaman. This pain or guardian spirit could come from any of many sources. It was alive and could talk, and gave the novice certain resultant powers. Most commonly powers were from animals such as coyote, bear, and the like, but also might come from sun, moon, wind, thunder and lightning, eagle, hawk, small birds, reptiles, frog, or oldman spirit.

The novice then acquired what we might call magic feathers. There were several types including the popular salmon colored flicker feathers. Most important, however, was the feather tuft known as kaku among the Atsugewi. This allegedly was found in finished form and not made. So full of power was the kaku that it could not be kept in a house. It was placed outside securely tied to a willow branch beside a stream or hidden inside a hollow tree trunk. The kaku was able to move by itself so had to be tied down or placed under a rock. When the novice shaman discovered his kaku, the feathers were singing; when he died, blood dripped from its feathers!

Upon his return to the village, the successful seeker stayed out of dwelling houses for a day or two. Among some tribes he was sick for this period. Universally he sweated and swam. Eating habits of the novice shaman varied in different cases, but were always as dictated by the specific instructions given to him by his guardian spirit. Invariably all forms of flesh were shunned. He smoked tobacco and gave his first hunting kill to an old man. During the novice period the new shaman was helped by old shamans at the fireside in the sweat house. He did much dancing, singing, handled hot coals and fire, bled from the mouth, and might fall into a trance.

In contrast to herbalist doctors who gave private treatment, that of shamans was public and usually conducted indoors, preferably in sweat lodges. The shaman needed singing help and the more help and the more persons who attended his doctoring the better. Sucking Shamans were the most important and required official assistants. These included one or more interpreters to communicate with the lay helpers or supporters, while the shaman was doctoring, and an outside speaker to help call the shaman’s spirits. Doctoring could take from one to three days and nights.

To diagnose the patient’s ills the shaman danced about, blowing smoke on him, and singing with the help of the audience. The shamans also drank water, sometimes with a tube, from portable stone mortars with spirit power. They often squirted water from their mouths. A whistle was used in some cases and often the supernatural powerful cocoon rattle. Among mountain Maidu herb medicines might be administered to the patient also.

At length the shaman’s guardian spirit or pain told him the location of the disease object, and then he could see or feel it. Often the shaman learned further from the spirit just who it was who had sent the disease object to plague his patient.

Curing the afflicted was accomplished next by the shaman’s sucking this pain or disease object out of some portion of the person’s body. The evil pain could be any curious small object and this the shaman exhibited to all present. The malignant pain was disposed of in a number of ways. It might be sent back to the owner who sent it, that is, the offending shaman. Or, it might be sent to his children who would be doomed because a shaman could not doctor his own pain. Other times the curing shaman would destroy the disease object by biting it and burning it or dispose of it by taking the pain into his own charmed body.

When a whole community had been affected by a pain sent by an evil shaman, the pain usually hid in the bushes nearby. In such a case, the shaman had to be very powerful to get the best of the situation. First he conducted the ceremony of detection of one victim in the usual sweat house manner. Once the shaman found out where the trouble was, he went outdoors with the villagers to help in corraling the offending pain. Frequently only after a lengthy search was he successful in finding the pain and then capturing it. Upon taking it into his body it might be so powerful as to cause him to go into a trance. In this event his assistants had to support him bodily, and had to sing for him, otherwise the shaman might die. Without wishing to appear facetious or disparaging, it can be said that a good shaman had to be an excellent showman as well.

Sucking Shamans were obligated to accept all cases which they were asked to treat. If they refused any and the afflicted died, then the shamans might be killed themselves by relatives of the persons who succumbed. The thinking was that if a shaman refused a case, he must have had something to do with making the person sick in the first place.

Payment was always made to the shaman. The amount was determined by the patient’s relatives. They would take the offering to the shaman when engaging him, but payment was not made at that time. The shaman looked over the proffered payment and might ask for more or for a different kind of payment. To give himself a foolproof alibi in case of failure to cure, and to increase his prestige if he did cure, he might reply to the effect that “The beads already have the smell of death on them, but I’ll see what I can do about it.” The payment was placed near the patient during healing treatment and was not actually collected by the shaman if the patient died within a few weeks or months. The shaman’s assistants were also paid, but in lesser amounts.

Besides the main function of curing, other good powers of the shamans were the ability to foretell future events, to see what was going on at distant places, and to locate lost or stolen articles. Among certain tribes control of weather was also possible by Sucking Shamans—among others there were special shamans with weather power.

Evil powers of Sucking Shamans could cause illness or death. This was done by talking to the pain and sending it to the victim. The shaman might put it on the end of a willow stick and point it at the person while singing and smoking tobacco. This could go on all night. Transmission of the pain to the intended victim was facilitated by contact, such as sneaking up behind him and touching him, or by putting the disease pain in his food or under his doorstep. The bad pain might also be dispatched by blowing it through a pipe or putting it in the victim’s pipe, or by talking to the shaman’s own animal spirit, injecting the pain into it and then sending the animal to the victim. This power animal might just take it to the intended person, or it might actually attack and bite him. If the evil pain had been successfully sent, and the intended dire results occurred, the relatives of the victim had a moral right to kill the offending shaman, without fear of retaliation. It seems that the culprit was usually recognized—obviously often mistakenly. It follows that shamans’ lives were somewhat precarious, not knowing who was going to find damning evidence against them.

By somewhat the same means as described above shamans could steal a person’s spirit or soul, rendering that person liable to quick and sure death from the slightest accident or illness. Shamans could be hired to perform these evil powers.

Singing Shamans were dreamers foretelling the future and telling the living what their dead relatives wanted them to do. The Singing Shaman was always male among mountain Maidu. Our other tribes did not have this specialist, instead such powers were in the repertoire of the Sucking Shaman.

Among Yana and Yahi tribes, apparently, weather doctoring could be done by any shaman, and this was usually the case among Atsugewi. However, mountain Maidu had specialized Weather Shamans. These were men who were capable not only of producing rain, snow, or hail, but also fog and high winds, or ending any of these.

Rattlesnake Shamans were generally women among Atsugewi and men among mountain Maidu. They could protect people from rattlesnakes or cure bites. The latter was accomplished by sucking which removed snakes and snakes’ teeth from the wound.

Bear Shamans did not exist among Yana tribes. Among Atsugewi and mountain Maidu these were not specialists, instead bear power was an additional skill of Sucking Shamans. They were almost always men and pertained not to Black Bear, but only to the California Grizzly. They wore bear skin, hair, teeth, and claws and simulated the bear’s actions in treating patients. Bear Shamans were called primarily to minister to bear wounded persons from whom they sucked out bear blood and teeth.