110 chapter two
II.2. Smiths and shamans/magicians/koloburs, or the inevitable
but necessary othernessAll of the persons mentioned in this group deal with natural ele-
ments, with fire and metals (and particularly shamans—with other-
words plus other-dance)^95 and that makes them liminal persons in this
kind of societies. In the so-called traditional societies the principle of
other-language/speaking most probably was understood as a universal
method of drawing the distinction between ‘us’ (all those who used
to talk understandably) and ‘them’ (those who did not talk, who talk
another way, i.e. unintelligibly). And probably the shamans were those
who used to incarnate best the image of a man with speech problems^96
and the way they used to talk was actually a typical form of their ver-
bal behavior. However, they had also ‘problems’ with dance as getting
into a trance was accompanied by special dances, which were rather
different from those typical for the everyday life, holidays, and com-
munity. In that sense they were beyond the known, own, and beyond
the threshold of the daily routine.
Mystic dances,^97 mastering the secrets of fire, spirits, and metals, for
the ability to “travel” across the three levels of the Universe and the
mythological commitment of the rulers to the shaman institution and
the smiths are all typical features of “Pax Nomadica” cultures.^98 It is
no surprise, then, that khagans were simultaneously superior military
commanders and superior shamans (for example, there is a sentence-
(^95) Sagalaev and Oktiabr’skaia 1990, 147, point out to the fact how important was
the voice in cultures, which are thought and realized and defined as well as ‘oral’. In
such societies people whose speech-status was not “in the standard” (namely those
who were foreigners, or were stammering or dumbed) were looked upon as being
others, as being aliens, which means they were in principle estimated through the
prism of Otherness. For the shaman technique in general see the classical work of
Eliade 1996.
(^96) Sagalaev and Oktiabr’skaia 1990, 148, 150.
(^97) For the games/dances, songs, and playing the music see, Kaloianov 2003, 127 f.,
as well as the answer N 35 in “Responsa” of Pope Nicholas to the questions of the
Bulgarian khan/knyaz Boris-Michael where “dances, songs and certain predictions”
are mentioned. 98
See Kardini [Cardini] 1987, 85–91, 97. Cardini claims (p. 39) that in this world
those who ruled are “the horse and the shaman”. For the deity-smith connected to
the Hell see, Golan 1993, 197 (it is in the under-earth space where the ore can be
found; its characteristics as well as technology of getting and transforming it were
known only to the miners and the smiths, respectively). For shamanic attributes see,
Kaloianov 2003, 59–70.