ABSTRACT
Shamanism features sacrificial worship of various types and styles as manifestation of its beliefs and ideas about nature and human existence. Consequently, up until modern times, apart from blood sacrifice, northern peoples have normally avoided staining furniture with human or animal blood, believing that it may cause misfortune. Early shamans commonly killed numerous animals the night before offering sacrifice, and the whole ritual became a matter of flesh, bone, and blood sacrifice. When people did not consume all meat of a blood sacrifice, they would bury the leftovers in the wilderness, mountains, and riverbanks to provide the deities with everlasting food. When Manchu and other northern clanspeople were sick or faced troubles, they would traditionally summon a shaman to perform blood sacrifice to seek cure or peace. On the whole, fire rituals have played an important role in primitive religious activities, and their widespread popularity serves as evidence that humans had already conquered and freely handled fire in distant past.
