ABSTRACT
Shamans of the Turkic peoples of Siberia performed rituals associated with many aspects of human life and activity. Analysis of the materials shows that the most important rituals were conducted in the form of seances [kamlanie], which usually followed a general pattern. Not too long ago, it was virtually impossible to transcribe the mysteries of the shamans. A. V. Anokhin, well-known for his studies of Altaic shamanism, once noted that “ the texts of the seance can be recorded in their entirety only by means of a grammophone: not even a person in full command of the language can transcribe the dictation of the shaman, who utters only disconnected fragments of his invocations” [1924, p. 65]. Therefore, the author regarded his published materials on shamanism as detached, often incomplete, and hence incomprehensible portions of the shamanic invocations. As far as recording the shamanic mysteries with special equipment is concerned, this also involves great difficulties. First of all, when the ritual is performed-in full garb, using the drum, the voice of the celebrant is muffled by the rattling and din. Frequently, in “conversing’ ’ with the spirits, the shaman changes to a whisper and talks in the shamanic “ language,” incomprehensible to the audience. If the ritual is recorded without the costume and drum, the ambience in which the “cure” or a different operation was performed is lost. This has an effect on the celebrant, and the texts of the incantations (always more or less improvised) are changed. Therefore, here the process of the shamanic seance is reconstructed by generalizing and contrasting the data recorded by different investigators.
