make him laugh, so that he will be easily persuaded to release
the game: The catch involves some cunning.
Whereas these two systems and their interaction nor-
mally function autonomously, they are dependent both
structurally and functionally upon the third system, shaman-
ism, which is built on an analogous model. Based on the idea
that the life of the body is subordinate to what is convenient-
ly called the “soul” that dwells in it, this system ensures the
exchange of souls between their supernatural dispensers and
their natural human and animal supports. Upon death, the
souls return to the spirits (which suggests the hypothesis of
their reincarnation within the same clan). The artisan of this
circulation is the shaman, who, it is believed, obtains the
souls of game and people from their supernatural dispensers.
From the standpoint of the system, the shaman is ho-
mologous to both the wife-taker and the hunter, a fact that
is often clearly demonstrated by the idea that he has a sym-
bolic wife who is the daughter of either the forest spirit or
water spirit (Selkup), or of the earth spirit Khosedam, as the
Ket believe. The office of the shaman is generally transmitted
through the patrilineal line, usually from grandfather to
grandson; agnatic relatives oversee the rites of investiture and
control the position and the exercise of the shamanic func-
tion. Thus, among the Selkup, the death of every adult blood
relative entails the destruction of the shaman’s drum and its
replacement by a larger one. In fact, the shaman’s power in-
creases as each soul of a deceased relative rejoins the spirit
world. The very presence of the shaman in the midst of his
group guarantees the existence of a relationship with the
soul-giving spirits. This relationship can be reinforced by cer-
tain detailed roles, such as the Buriat shaman acting as godfa-
ther to newborns and the Tunguz shaman leading the souls
of the dead to the otherworld. However, the shaman’s active
intervention is essential whenever there is a disturbance: scar-
city of game; lack of descendants; or departure of a soul,
which, by leaving the body vacant, renders it sick and soon
dead. The shaman, who performs a divination procedure
(throwing an object that falls on the “good” or “bad” side,
answering his questions “yes” or “no”), then determines the
cause of the disturbance. The two major causes considered
are infractions of the rules governing the exchanges (excessive
or insufficient hunting or alliances, inadequate amount of
food given to tamed animals and figurines, violation of ta-
boos concerning hunting, etc.) and the death of any animal
or human surviving outside the framework of the clan and
thus outside the system, which results in a wandering, unin-
tegrated soul that is consequently harmful. Mediator par ex-
cellence, the shaman then negotiates a return to order with
the spirits, tricking them somewhat, but also giving them of-
ferings or a new cult (for example, by making a new figurine
to be fed, zoomorphic in the event of a hunting infraction
and anthropomorphic in the event of a deceased outsider to
be reinstated). Thus, he symbolically secures the reappear-
ance of game, the birth of children, the return of the soul
to the ailing person’s body, and so on.
The taking (or retaking) of these souls cannot be real-
ized by the shaman without the aid of what is usually called
his “auxiliary spirits,” equivalent to such equally essential
auxiliaries as the intermediary in the marriage and the beater
or guide in the hunt. He sends these spirits to search for the
soul that has strayed from the sick and to track down venge-
ful spirits, descended from the frustrated souls of those who
died violent deaths, to keep them from doing harm. The
Selkup rite involving the “dark tent” is held in total darkness
in the presence of the shaman’s kin and consists of the sha-
man’s proving to them his ability to stir up his auxiliary spir-
its and summon their services. His power increases with their
number and promptness in hastening to his call. Their remu-
neration is found in the type of offering given them (primari-
ly food) and, for those descended from wandering souls, in
their reinstatement.
In each system, the relationship between the taker and
his auxiliary has the character of a personal contract, updat-
able and reversible, corresponding to an exchange of services.
These services, which are not identical but complementary,
are not organized into a hierarchy: Thus, hunter and beater
or guide have an equivalent status and an equal part regard-
less of the catch. This relationship between taker and auxilia-
ry is based on the general principle of a dualist organization
of the operating units from various levels, which finds expres-
sion in the very name of the Khanty-Mansi (bear, hare) or
Selkup (eagle, crow) moieties (in the myths of origin, the
moieties being descended either from two brothers-in-law or
from two brothers, forming separate lines), in the custom of
nomadic camping set up by two allied families, and so on.
The Feast of the Bear, celebrated by most of these peoples,
is still the totalizing ritual par excellence, despite some differ-
ences. There, the organization in moieties of the different
units and the three systems of exchange come into play, a fact
that illustrates the exceptional symbolic versatility of the
bear.
While the forest world is at once aerial and terrestrial
and dominates symbolic space, the aquatic world also plays
an important role. The souls of the dead descend along the
course of the great rivers; boats or representations of boats
appear in certain funerary or commemorative rites. Because
of the orientation of the rivers, both the north and down-
stream water are associated with death. Symmetrically, up-
stream water and the south have a positive connotation.
Birds that migrate from the south are offered ritual recep-
tions upon arrival and invitations to return upon leaving, as
if to materialize the rebirth of life (since it is believed that
they bring the souls of newborns). The simultaneous pres-
ence of quadrupeds and birds does not really affect the
uniqueness of the forest, represented by the omnipresent but
indivisible element that is the tree. The declivity of the rivers
there does not result in a separation of “upstream” from
“downstream.” “Up” and “down” are not superposed posi-
tions; rather, they are contiguous in the depth of the same
horizontal plane, a plane in which forest and water are essen-SOUTHERN SIBERIAN RELIGIONS 8671