ABSTRACT

Shamanic beliefs, which are based on animism and the immortality of the soul and have distinct gods, classics, and organizations in different places, are found in North Asia, Central Asia, Northern Europe, and the Americas. The political and cultural contexts of various places have an impact on the totems of shamanic beliefs, which causes them to take on diverse forms. In order to investigate the forms that these totems exhibit as a result of varying socioeconomic backgrounds, this article will compare and contrast the Manchu and North American Indian totems. In the end, it is discovered that shamanism has both inherited its basic religious ideas and developed locally as a result of many external circumstances and regional differences in cultural evolution.

Keywords: shamanic beliefs; totems; comparative studies; Manchu; North American Indians

1. Introduction

Shamanism is an ethnic minority religious belief that mostly exists in the area north of the Qinling and Huaihe Rivers in China, especially among the ethnic groups located in the northern border areas, such as the Xiongnu and the Turkic peoples in the northwest, the Manchus, the Xianbei, and the Wuhuan in the northeast, and the Mongols and the Khitans in the central region. Among them, the most well-preserved and influential in the course of history is the shamanism of the Manchu people (Cai Zhi-chun, 1988).

Shamanism, or shamanic beliefs, is generally regarded in the field of cultural anthropology as a natural religion, with its core ideas based on animism. A shaman is the "chief" of a people or tribe that believes in shamanism. The term "shaman" is used in the third volume of the Southern Song Dynasty Compendium of the Three Dynasties and the Northern Alliance, which describes the distinctive abilities of the shaman: "Shaman" has two abilities, namely, "to be adaptable and talented,"—the ability to use sorcery, and "the ability to use the power of the mind. "—the ability to communicate with the deities. (Xu Mengxin, 1878)

Among the shamanistic peoples of the northern part of China, represented by the Manchus, it is believed that ghosts and deities can manipulate all things between heaven and earth, the rise and fall of nations, and the disasters or happiness experienced by people. In their conception, the natural world is not a science-based, freely functioning system; it is dominated by a supernatural force created by the deities, and all of its changes and progress are in accordance with the subjective will of the deities. The study of religious theism is divided into two main categories: the worship of a single god is called "monotheism," while the worship of multiple deities in religious doctrine is called "pantheism”. In shamanism, there are multiple deities that govern a specific part of nature, and pantheism, which includes the doctrine of animism, is where the origins of shamanism can be traced. (Se yin, 2019)

Totem is derived from the Ojibwe word ote, and it is an object of symbolic significance, such as an animal or plant, representing a clan or tribe. (Definition of TOTEM, n.d.)

Totem worship is an important part of shamanism. Shamanism places great value on the forces of nature and uses these forces to aid humans in various aspects of life, therefore, shamans also show much respect to totem animals and other objects in nature and regard them as symbols of the forces of nature. (Defne, 2023)

2. Background

During the formation of the Manchu people, shamanism generally went through two stages. In the first stage, as the tribes struggled and fought against each other, shamanism changed from its peacetime function of livelihood to one of inspiring the people and boosting their morale in war, mainly serving the tribes' military and political aspects. In the second stage of development, the victorious tribes began to establish a new religious paradigm, and the stronger tribes unified their leadership and established the norms of shamanism. There is a strong connection between the two phases: the wartime changes were in fact the process that had to be undergone for the eventual unification of the religious forms by the winning tribes, and this pattern is also in line with the general developmental pattern of regime change, where unification is the result of post-war development. This process of Manchu transformation took a long time, during which shamanism showed several different typical features, including the inheritance of the Nvzhen culture since the Jin Dynasty, as well as the unique supremacy of the Manchus, who were the most important executors of these changes, from Nurhachi to the emperors such as Kang Xi and Qianlong. In addition, Manchu shamanism also has the recurring phenomenon of "returning to simplicity and truth". During the Daoguang period, religious rituals were banned, except in remote areas where clans still maintained rituals, and some clans revived the original shamanism of their own clans. During the Opium War, the Qing government was faced with internal and external problems, and the restrictions and management of religion were loosened, so many clans hoped to take this opportunity to revive the original shamanism of their tribes. The process of revitalization was recorded in the clan's sacred texts at that time, because after more than ten generations, the deities of the clan had not yet chosen a new shaman, so unofficial rituals were happening again. There are also rumors that a shaman who had died a long time ago had returned to the clan on the back of a tiger, or that the gods chose a new shaman through a dream, and so on. (Fu, Yuguang & Meng, Huiying, 2016)

In the same period in North America, like many other peoples in the world who have maintained their ancient ways of production, the Indians were subjected to the impact of industrial civilization and modernization, and their shamanic culture was regarded by the Western colonizers as the antithesis of "civilization". This cultural invasion reached its peak in the 20th century, when the colonialists' specific measures against shamanic culture were divided into two parts: cultural assimilation and genocide, and the oppressive cultural policies of "Americanization" and "forced assimilation" pursued by the U.S. government. The Indians were forced onto reservation lands and compelled to give up their traditional hunting lifestyle and culture, and their population plummeted. Christian missionaries traveled to the Indian reservations and preached their religion, claiming that the Indians were followers of the devil. The missionaries also sent Indian children to boarding schools, forced them to lose their long dreadlocks, and prevented them from speaking their native languages. Regrettably, under this high pressure, the Indians began to gradually accept the idea that native cultures were "backward" and "savage ", and developed a serious sense of self-loathing. Many psychologists see this as a massive cultural trauma. It was not until the 1950s and 1960s, when a wave of reflective thinking about colonization emerged in the West, that the general public began to change their impressions of shamans and began to view shamans and their beliefs and activities more from a cultural perspective. It was in this circumstance that Indians began to return to their traditions and attempted to find solutions to these issues from their own traditional culture. (Yuan, Jie, 2013)

3. Literature review

This article refers to both Chinese and English academic literature, in which the direction of previous research on related topics mostly focuses on the reformation and historical development of the shamanic religion, and fewer discussions are conducted from the perspective of cultural anthropology theory. The references in this article can be categorized into three main types, namely, the study of shamanic culture in the northeastern region of China, where the Manchus are more widely distributed, the study of shamanic culture among North American Indians, and the study of shamanic culture in a global historical context. For Manchu shamanism, this article mainly refers to Che Haifeng's A study of sacred pig worship among the Sushen ethnic group in northeastern China, which centers on the sacred pig worship of the Sushen peoples—the previous generation of the Manchu ethnic group, discusses taboos related to the totem animal in Manchu shamanism, and lists archaeological evidence. Regarding shamanic culture in North America, this article focuses on scholar Yuan Jie's Searching for Ethnic Cultural Roots and Resisting Assimilation: The Revival of Shamanic Culture among North American Indians, which serves as a representative in this research direction of the Chinese-language; the study emphasizes that shamanic culture is a form of national identity and a political expression of North American Indians, and summarizes the historical process of shamanism in North America from its decline since the invasion of the colonizers to the later revival of shamanic culture. In terms of shamanic culture from a worldwide perspective, this article refers to scholar Liu Housheng's On the Definition, Origin, and Spread of Shamanism, which mainly studies the origin of shamanic culture in different parts of the world and emphasizes that among the Tungusic peoples in Northeast Asia, the shamanic culture of the Manchu ethnic group is the strongest, and the "shamanic cultural wave" centered around them has influenced other neighboring peoples, and gradually spread to other peoples in areas such as North America.

At present, most studies in the academic world choose one ethnic group as a case study to explore its shamanic culture. It is not difficult to find that there are few studies that choose details of the shamanic culture of two different ethnic groups for comparison. In addition, in terms of research methodology and sample selection, the current scope of research is too broad, and few studies select specific behavioral habits or specific sacrificial rituals in shamanic culture.

We have to admit that the current related research is biased towards literature review and historical combing, and lacks fieldwork and data collection, so it is very difficult for us to see much first-hand information in the research, so the conclusions drawn may have some limitations. In this paper, we will choose the totems in Manchu and North American Indian shamanic cultures for comparison, try to analyze the similarities and differences between the shamanic cultures of the two different ethnic groups, and finally discuss the reasons and influences behind these similarities and differences.

4. Similarities and differences in the places of origin of shamanic culture in different regions

In discussing the differences between shamanic cultures in different regions, the author has relatively prioritized focusing on the beginning of their emergence, especially in tracing the origin of their cultures, which has a crucial impact on the subsequent development of the culture. For the research object of this article, North American Indians and Manchu shamanic culture, the continent where the two cultures are located is geographically far away from each other, but the performance of cultural behavior in their religion is so similar that the researcher has to question whether there is a unified place of origin for the two. For this problem, this paper launches relevant article collection in the research process.

On the issue of similarity between North American and Asian shamanism, American anthropologist Boas insisted on the transmissionist point of view, which states that shamanism originated in North Asia, and then changed after integrating into the North American cultural system, forming a shamanism with North American cultural characteristics. (Li Nan, 2011) According to archaeological discoveries, the earliest images of shamans in the world originated from rock paintings in the Siberian region. The shamanism of the Manchu people in Asia originated from the primitive beliefs of the Tunguska people, who were already active in the vast forests, grasslands and mountains of Northeast Asia during the period of the matrilineal clan society of human beings. Tunguska's "shamanic culture wave" continues to radiate to the surrounding ethnic areas, spreading from North Asia to Northern Europe and North America. In the Great Lakes region of the United States, the Native American Chippewa are a large tribe of North American Indians, and one of the most important phases of their tribal history is the migration of the original Chippewa people from Siberia through the Bering Strait (Yu, 1989).

In addition, some scholars found that in the North American region, other than the Indians, after examining the way the Northwest Eskimo myths spread, it can be concluded that its shamanism and shaman worship rituals are also from Asia. "These myths did not spread to Greenland through Europe, especially not through Iceland and Norway, but spread eastward through Siberia across the Bering Strait." (Liu Housheng, 1995).

Both Manchu and North American shamanism originated in Northeast Asia, which means that North American shamanism evolved from the trans-oceanic spread of the original Tungusic culture of the Manchu people. The Siberian petroglyphs are the earliest records of shamanism found to date, and the well-established shamanic culture of the Manchus and their forefathers also proves that Northeast Asia is the birthplace of shamanic culture. A large tribe of North American Indians, the Chippewas, originally migrated from Siberia through the Bering Strait, and the American anthropologist Boas also agrees with the viewpoint of the theory of transmission. In summary, we can conclude that Manchu and North American shamanism and the shamanic beliefs of the Tunguska people in Northeast Asia are in the same lineage and belong to the same primitive cultural system.

5. Differences and similarities in the development of shamanic culture in different regions at the time of localization

In addition to the discussion of the place of origin, shamanic culture was inevitably influenced by local cultures after spreading to different regions, especially during special periods of historical transition, when it was subjected to tremendous external changes, and all these external factors shaped the gradually differentiating shamanic cultures of the two peoples. For example, the evolution of Manchu shamanism was inextricably linked to the changes in Qing governmental authorities, and when Puyi was forced to move out of the palace in 1924, the last few shamans went with him, and shamanism, which had been practiced for nearly three hundred years, also disappeared. After the official withdrawal, however, scholars can still find traces of it in the folklore, and in the 1960s, a few shamanic jumping activities could be seen in the Manchu villages along the Songhua River in Jilin. (Liu Housheng, 1995).

Compared to the "inheritance" principle of shamanic heritage in Asia, the development of shamanism in North America is more "democratized", where the ability to become a shaman depends on the initiative of the individual, and the door to shamanism is open to everyone. (Li Nan, 2011)

In addition, it is not difficult to find that since the sixteenth century, with the continuous expansion of European power into North America, the shamanic culture of the North American Indian tribes has been impacted by Christian civilization in the course of its historical development. This impact began with the folk missionary, and gradually evolved to the official documents, in the nineteenth century, the colonialists began to implement cultural assimilation and genocide of the aboriginal people from the policy point of view. This period saw the destruction of North American Indian Native organizations and their traditional cultures, the forcing of some residents onto reservations, the compelled abandonment of hunting lifestyles and cultures, and a precipitous decline in population. It was not until the end of the Vietnam War, in the mid-1960s, that Western culture began to reflect on colonization, and at the same time, the West began to change its image of the shaman and began to view the shaman and his beliefs and activities more from a cultural perspective. After the renaissance of this period, Aboriginal people (the Indians) began to have the opportunity to return to their traditions. (Yuan Jie, 2013)

 In summary, we can see that shamanic development in both North America and the Asian continental region had been weakened by large-scale invasions by colonizers. It is worth mentioning that the development of Manchu shamanism in the folk continued, while North American shamanism was forced to interrupt until the middle of the last century when it began to revitalize. The author believes that compared to the foreign cultural invasion, there is a closer connection between the inheritance of shamanic culture and how important the government at that time viewed Shamanism. In Manchu shamanism, although the last few shamans left the palace with Puyi, the Qing government had put great importance on shamanism, which led to its transmission in the folk; meanwhile, North American Indians were living in tribal units before the invasion of the European power, and there was no unified governmental leadership so that the colonizers had the opportunity to control the masses' views on their traditional religion.

6. Similarities and differences in the totems of shamanic culture in different regions

After discussing the place of origin and development, in the course of the research, the author noticed that the totem similarities and differences between shamanic cultures in North America and Asia are very noteworthy, and this detail can be used as a good case study for discussing the different development of the same culture in a figurative way. First of all, in terms of similarities, in North American Indian and Manchu shamanic cultures, totems are mostly based on animal prototypes. Most of the animal prototypes came from the peoples' knowledge and belief about their own ancestors, and both the Manchu and North American Indian peoples believed that their ancestors were the animals in their totems. In fact, in shamanic cultures, some animals are usually chosen as part of the tribal beliefs, and these animals have a high status in the tribe. For example, in most North American Indian tribes, the eagle is a sacred symbol of the Creator. They perform eagle ceremonies and dance as eagles. The dancers' costumes, movements, and shadows cast on the earth represent the soaring eagle. In their view, the eagle is a messenger sent by God. The Manchu also had a wide variety of totems with various animal figures, including eagles, snakes, and frogs. (Li, 2018)

In Manchu shamanism, animals in totems that are hunted and killed are often buried like humans and ritualized. This is confirmed by Russian archaeologists in the case of the Green Grove culture site. In the burial of a female pig at the Green Grove Culture site, the pig has ornaments on its chest, and the skeleton of the pig has its back facing downward and its chest facing upward, a very peculiar posture similar to the supine burial of a human being. Obviously, the pig was buried in human dress, not only on its back like a human being, but also with many burial goods, like a pig god with great powers enjoying special courtesies. Therefore, its importance among the inhabitants of the Qinglin Forest site is self-evident. (Che Hai Feng, 2017)

Sacrificial ceremonies for totem animals as well as burials are also relatively common in North American shamanism. For example, Fr. Malester has described himself among a tribe near Lake Michigan, where the shaman of this tribe sacrificed forty dogs in a ritual in order to eliminate disease. In addition, many dog burials similar to human burials have been found in North America, and there are even examples of people buried with dogs. (Kerber, 1997)

In the discourse on the differences between the two totems, it is worth mentioning that in the totem worship of the North American Indians, they used to carve their totems on wooden totem poles, which also served as instruments of communication. The totems on the totem poles usually tell the story of an individual or a clan. In Manchu shamanism, however, no evidence of totems used as a tool of communication by their people has been found; Manchu shamanic totems were mostly used only as clan symbols. The author believes that a possible reason is that the Manchu people had already developed written characters for communication. In Manchu’s previous generation Nvzhen, a writing system had been developed as early as the 12th century. (Nvzhen Texts, n.d.) At this stage, the sites of the North American Indian totem pole that can be found have very rich patterns. In addition to the animals mentioned earlier, there are also plants or other natural or supernatural objects, and behind these elements are stories of great personal or social significance in the history of the people. (Totem Pole - New World Encyclopedia, n.d.)

For example, in 1872 at Misk'usa in the village of Henaksiala, Chief G'psgolox of the Eagle Clan of the Haisla commissioned the carving of a totem pole to commemorate interaction with the spirit world. The totem pole was carved by two members of the clan, Humdzeed and Wakas, and is 9 meters long. The totem pole is adorned with the deities Tsooda and Asoalget, as well as a grizzly bear, representing spiritual power. (The G'psgolox Totem Pole: Case Study, n.d.)

In terms of totem poles being used as a means of communication, the surviving sources mainly document that along the coast of the present-day Pacific Northwest, because these native peoples of the North American continent did not have a written language, totem poles were used to pass on their stories. ("What Is," n.d.)

7. Summary

In the end, it is evident that shamanism has both retained and localized its basic religious ideas as a result of various external influences and regional differences in the evolution of local cultures. This study focuses on the similarities and contrasts between the totems of Manchu and North American Indian shamanism. Both totems are symbols of tribes. In particular, the totems of North American Indian shamanism are employed as communication instruments.

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