Lost Shamanism Across Culture

Narrated by Meilin Lyu

To understand the cultural resonance and historical pathways of shamanism, it is essential to explore how this ancient spiritual practice travelled the world and found connections across distant regions, including Europe. The Manchu, an ethnic group descended from the Jurchen—who founded and ruled China’s Jin dynasty (1115-1234)—have the largest population among these groups, now numbering around 10 million, mostly in northern China. Manchurian Shamanism, a branch of Northeast Asian religious practices from the Tungusic Evenki-speaking peoples, reflects the broader cross-cultural and pan-religious concept of “Shamanism,” as explored by Mircea Eliade (1964). Eliade presented shamanism as a universal phenomenon, rooted in archaic human practices, where shamans often served as group leaders and therapeutic healers in small-scale hunter-gatherer and agrarian societies.

However, each culture has unique expressions of shamanism, including specific rituals and meanings (Vadala, 2019). In China, Southern Song scholar Xu Mengxin described shamanic practices among the Jurchen people in Collected Records of the Northern Alliance Across Three Dynasties (三朝北盟会编), writing that “Wu Shi was cunning and talented...the people called him Shaman,” explaining that “shaman” is a Jurchen word for “witch,” as she is “as good as a god.” In fact, in the 17th century, China introduced the term “shaman” to Europe when Tsar Peter the Great’s envoys, Isbrand Ides and Adam Brandt, encountered it during their travels in China. This interconnectedness allows us to draw interesting parallels between traditions like Manchurian shamanism and European spiritual practices, bridging the gaps between Northeast Asia and the West.

Manchurian shamanism is distinctive in its division of roles into professional shamans, who typically lead village groups, and family shamans, often female, stemming from matriarchal traditions. In Tungusic languages, the term “shaman” implies an exhilarated person with intense emotions, but also a knowledgeable individual who understands divine messages thoroughly and possesses a versatile cultural role. Shamanic rituals in Tungusic tradition vary, including healing practices like treating wounds and acupuncture, performing sacrificial rites, and ancestor worship. Deities worshipped range from gods of the heavens and earth to natural elements like rivers, mountains, the sun, moon, and animals—reflecting a nomadic belief that all natural entities possess immortal souls as their communities are very much dependent on natural resources. 

A central element in Manchurian shamanic ritual is the shaman dance, or samdambi, which is a dynamic performance involving typically two participants: the shaman, embodying a major god, and an assistant keeping rhythm with a drum. This hypnotic drumming, the rhythmic singing, paired with the ringing of bells attached to the shaman’s waist, creates an intense experience for the audience. Visually, the dance is marked by bold, exaggerated movements that mimic the invited deities. For instance, when calling upon the "Eagle God," the shaman imitates soaring and pecking motions at the offerings, adorned with eagle-themed ornaments like bronze mirrors and ribboned skirts to signify divine power. Once the god or spirit of a deceased person arrives, the shaman acts as a mediator, addressing questions from the people, offering as a bridge between the human and spirit worlds. Today, Manchurian shamanism is preserved as folk art and is cherished as an important piece of intangible heritage in China.

In Europe, shamanistic practices are especially evident among the Finno-Ugric Saami people, who were influenced directly by Siberian shamanic traditions, as briefly noted in Old Norse texts from the 13th and 14th centuries. Scholars have drawn parallels between Saami shamans and other European figures, such as Celtic druids and Norse völva that is connected to the Anglo-Saxon “Wicce” (source of the term “witch”). Central to these figures is the staff, symbolising the axis between the spiritual and physical worlds, other similar attributes can also include the shapeshifting and the use of trance. In the 1990s, scholars began using “shamanism” more broadly to describe ancient European spiritual practices and even compared shamans to priests, given their similar roles in community and spirituality, though priests often represented organised religion. Some trace European shamanism as far back as the Paleolithic, pointing to cave art such as the “Sorcerer” or “Horned God” in the Les Trois Frères cave in France as a debatable ancient shamanistic figure.