Elements of Shamanism in the Folk Medicine of the Siberian Tatars

Tychinskikh Zaytuna Aptrashitovna PhD in History Senior Scientific Associate, Tobolsk Complex Scientific Station of Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 626150, Russia, Tyumenskaya oblast', g. Tobol'sk, ul. Akademika Yuriya Osipova, 15 zaituna.09@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Zinnatullina Guluza Ilfatovna ORCID: 0000-0002-0371-0812 PhD in History Senior Researcher at the Tobolsk Complex Scientific Station of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 626156, Russia, Akademika Osipova str., 15 region, Tobolsk, Akademika Osipova str., 15 zgulyusa@gmail.com

The centuries-old spiritual culture of the Siberian Tatars, formed in the bosom of the common Turkic worldview, includes such a phenomenon as shamanism. Despite the fact that with the spread of Islam in Western Siberia, there is a loss or significant transformation of early ideas about the universe, nature and essence of man, in the traditional culture of the Siberian Tatars, as well as many Siberian peoples, some elements of the cultural and religious practice of shamanism remain.

The relevance of the study is associated with a weak study of the role of shamanic and magical rites in the medical practice of Siberian Tatars. The aim of the work is to examine, on the basis of the authors' field ethnographic materials collected among the Siberian Tatars of the Tyumen, Omsk and Novosibirsk regions during a number of field seasons, the relics of shamanism preserved in the folk medicine of the Siberian Tatars. The object of the study is the relics of the pre-Islamic beliefs of the Siberian Tatars, including the categories of shamans. The subject is their role in the traditional healing and magical rituals.

Earlier, we identified the following categories of shamans among the Siberian Tatars: imce, kuremce, sikhyrce ^{[18, pp. 156-157]}. In our opinion, the relics of pre-Islamic ideas, including shamanism, are clearly traced in the system of folk medical knowledge of the Siberian Tatars, which includes the institute of medicine, ideas about diseases and magical practices associated with getting rid of them.

In traditional culture, the causes of diseases were usually associated with the influence of otherworldly forces on the human body and soul. In this connection, the role of people with special magical abilities in society was great. It is known that shamans and/or shamanists occupied a special place in traditional societies, since, having psychophysiological and psychomental properties, they were chosen people capable of unusual magical practices ^{[20; 22-31]}. In addition, shamans were carriers of sacred knowledge that allowed them to be intermediaries between people and otherworldly forces ^{[4; 16; 19]}. According to M. Eliade, shamans are specialists in the human soul; only they see it because they know its form and purpose ^{[20, p. 19; 22-27]}. They were defenders of people from the effects of otherworldly forces, including those affecting diseases.

Among the large number of terms denoting healers among the Siberian Tatars, it is possible to distinguish nominations reflecting the specifics of the magical abilities of healers. So, healers capable of clairvoyance were called: kuremce (from the word k u r u – to see), keshe karauts – (literally: the one who looked at a person), paktsy (from the ancient Turkic bagu – to look). Healers who used magical practices (spells, rituals, etc.): imce / emce (from the word im – conspiracy), oshkerutse (from the word oshkeru – to whisper, to speak), often this nomination was more often used as the verb oshkertu with the word mullah (mullaga oshkertesen, oshkerutse mullah), less often with the word imce ^[21].

In a special category, one can distinguish sihyrce (from the word sihr – sorcery, witchcraft) and posymtsy (from the word posym – damage).

The "Kuremets" had the ability to see in the environment what ordinary people could not see – human doubles, supernatural beings (urman-iya, chin, ut, yale, pare, etc.) ^{[4; 5; 6; 9]}. It was believed that by the eyes of a person, a chicken could be seen if evil spirits possessed him.

One of the important abilities of kuremce was the ability to see a human double – aurak. Aurak is a special category of soul, an immaterial embodiment of a person's vitality, his ghost, spirit, soul, which appears with the birth of a person, is next to him all his life, dies with him ^[3]. Kuremce, as informants define, could foresee who would die soon, how long a person would live. It is believed that anyone can see aurak three times in their life. But, unlike an ordinary person, who cannot distinguish whether it is a person or his double, kuremtse knows exactly who he sees. An ordinary person can distinguish an aurak double from a living person only by the fact that he does not cast a shadow, and also does not touch the ground with his feet ^[18]. This hypostasis of the soul is known in the Tyumen region among the swampy, Tobolsk Tatars and a number of groups of Tatars of the Omsk region. "Here, in the village of Ebargul, there is a groom, he is a kuremce. If he sees aurak in the evening, then in 3 days this person will die. If during the day, he will live longer. He sees all deaths in advance" ^[18].

Kuremets were often engaged in medical practice, using their extraordinary abilities to determine the diagnosis and treatment. Sometimes kuremets, having determined the cause of the disease, refused to treat the patient, explaining that he did not have enough strength. In these cases, he recommended turning to another, stronger healer.

A special attitude was to the category of sihyrce (from the word sihr – sorcery, witchcraft). They were considered the strongest among shamanists, had miraculous abilities and could bring harm and benefit to a person. Sikhyrce could cure a person, but they could also send various diseases on him, from which he could die. Sihyrce played a special role in the treatment of the evil eye, sorcery, "removing the damage" caused by other sihyrce, which other categories of shamanists could not do.

According to informants, sihyrce often had negative qualities: "Sihyrce can do evil – return from a trip, get lost, enchant, bring moose into the garden. Can tell who stole it" ^[18]. Sikhyrce affected the human consciousness, corrupted people, sent a spell – "posu", could enchant "arsyta", although according to Muslim customs, "according to the Koran" these actions were considered a sin. In this regard, the Muslim Tatars believed that the possession of secret knowledge of Sikhyrce would not allow him to go to heaven after death. Sihyrce could not pass on their knowledge to children, because then they would also be responsible for the sins of children, so they did not teach anyone to conjure ^[18].

If the kuremce in the views of most informants received a special gift from birth, then in order to become a sikhyrce, in addition to possessing unusual innate abilities, it was also necessary to study for a long time.

With the help of witchcraft, they were able to cure incurable diseases, for example, dumbness, etc. (D. Saurgachi) ^[21]. Therefore, they were asked for help in desperate situations. The attitude towards sihyrce was twofold – they were afraid of him, feared him, believed that sihyrce were usually unkind to people. People who were "spoiled" by sikhyrce were sick until they were cured by imce.

In this regard, the Siberian Tatars often had the opinion that representatives of other nationalities were engaged in witchcraft. So, according to the swampy Tatars, Sikhyrce were among the Khanty (Ishtyakov) who lived in the neighborhood, who could spoil people with conspiracies, water, tea, wine. Ust-Ishim Tatars reported about a Russian Sikhyrts who lived in Yarkovo, who could turn into animals ^[18]. 

Some informants claim that sihyrce began to appear among Tatars in recent years, due to the spread of literature on black magic ("elekposymtsylartulmagan, ul k a ser, kayber yashl a r pochtatan kitap altyryp posym kylatylar") ^{[8, p. 54; 21]}.

The posymtsy nomination was more often applied to a woman. The concept of posymtsy included exclusively the induction of damage, whereas sykhyrce could heal the induced damage.   

The most common nomination denoting the Siberian Tatars of the Tyumen region treating a person is imce. Perhaps because this category of healers had more competence in the field of healing, they could both diagnose the disease and treat it. Unlike the kuremce, whose abilities showed themselves more in the field of diagnosis of diseases, the imce were stronger healers. They were treated for diseases associated with the influence of supernatural forces – yale, Shaitan, chin-s a hm a t.

In their practice, imce often used magical methods of treatment (avryun kagyu, avryun attyru, oshkeru, etc.).

If a person is exposed to evil forces – yale-sahmat, then the evil force - parey inhabits him. "At the same time, a person's whole body hurts, he becomes not himself, he could be paralyzed, he could even die."

Also, "yale-sakhmat" was expelled from a person with the help of a burning broom. The patient was covered with a blanket or a fur coat, the imce / mullah walked in circles around the patient and, uttering the words of a conspiracy / prayer, beat him with a burning broom.

Yale was considered the most common supernatural spirit of diseases among Siberian, He was represented as a creature capable of penetrating into the human body. Penetration could occur instantly with a blow (sugylates / kagylates / tei a te), mainly at night, so it was not recommended to go outside after nightfall. The swampy Tatars had ideas about similar evil spirits: from o rx o v a t yel, which they represented in the form of a fireball, once a person fell ill or died in it, as well as yelbih a / yelbih a n, appearing in the image of a woman ^{[1, p. 138]}.

Diseases associated with yel were called yel avru, yell a nep kitu, yell a nu (lit. windy disease). The symptoms of this disease more often corresponded to diseases associated with a disorder of the nervous system: rabies, sleepwalking, depression, apathy, as well as diseases with an unknown cause (tick a n tick avryu). In the modern language of the Tyumen Tatars, there is an expression denoting a person who is in a strong excitement, rage "yell a nep kit / yell a n a te" (angry, nervous), related to psychosis ^{[8, p. 57]}.

L. P. Potapov cites information about the yel wind as a deity or spirit, recorded in ancient Turkic monuments and in the Dictionary of Mahmud of Kashgar, where jel is "an evil spirit, a demonic being" ^{[11, p. 22]}. At the heart of another concept that exists among the Altaians is "jelbi", that is, the power that inhabits the shaman, leads him into an ecstatic state and turns him from an ordinary person during the ritual into a person possessing "jelbi" ^{[9, p. 20]}, the word jel. Apparently, the basis of the ideas of the Siberian Tatars, like the Altaians and ancient Turks about jel – yel, is the worship of a powerful spirit/deity of the Wind, who gave one of the ancestors of the ancient Turks a shamanic gift through his "breath" ^{[11, p. 22]}. In the worldview of the Siberian Tatars, these ideas have been preserved in the version of the dangerous impact of Yale on ordinary people and in the possibility of special people – shamanists, to fight with Yale and expel it with the help of magical techniques resembling the rite of kamlaniya.

They also used magical techniques in a number of other cases. They treated diseases of internal organs (poklasin-aura), were able to correct a hernia – p o kl a sen oshlagan (p o kl a sen – hernia, oshlagan – groped) or p o kl a sen iml a g a n (iml au – to speak); treated with old spells, prayers, enchanted water (oshkergan su), diseases of fright – koyu cat (the term denotes the return of the soul to the place) and a pl au / a pkoryklau (from the word a p, which was used in the conspiracy from the rite), ruled the head – arable land u lts au (head measurement), etc.

According to the strength of their therapeutic effects, more and less strong healers stood out – to o tsle imce, to o tsle mullah (to o tsle – strong). They mostly used magical methods of treatment in their practice. This category mainly included ministers of religious worship and clairvoyants who had deep religious knowledge and could control the influence of evil spirits on people. They were treated for diseases associated with the influence of supernatural forces ^{[8, p. 49]}.

In this regard, it is also necessary to pay attention to the healers-mullahs, who had different versions of the names: imce mullah, oshkerutse mullah (talker), mullah-paktsy (seer), pornky mullah (ancient), kotsle mullah (strong). It should be noted that it was the mullahs-healers who were most often characterized as "strong", strong. Obviously, the ability to heal was also enhanced by the activity of the priest, which implied the depth and thoroughness of the knowledge of the healer among the Siberian Tatars.

Despite the fact that the Islamic religion generally prohibits magical practices, the use of shamanic practices by mullahs-healers was still a common phenomenon among the Siberian Tatars. Since, on the one hand, the Muslim tradition presupposes that priests are engaged in treatment, on the other hand, it fit into the norms of the Sufi worldview, which had a huge impact on the traditional culture of the Siberian Tatars.

Thus, depending on the specific manifestations of vital activity, some healers (imce, mullah, k u remce, pagymtsy) among the Siberian Tatars were people who were able to communicate with forces and phenomena that were beyond the ordinary profane space. The methods they used in the treatment of patients also bring them closer to shamanic practices.

As mentioned above, the causes of many diseases were attributed to the influence of supernatural forces on a person, which disturbed the inner state of a person. They could cope with such diseases only with the help of magical techniques, many of which are similar to shamanic shamanism. This is especially clearly seen in the yale exile rite (yale – lit.: wind, evil whirlwind), which was defined by the following terms – "kagyp yelen tosheru", "yel aurun kagu", "yenne kagu" ^[21].

"There once lived an imce named Pyshak here, he delivered people from yale, i.e. from evil spirits that possessed him." This disease is called "uynatma aura". He prayed and "beat" the "yale" out of a person with a whip or a belt. If a person was possessed by a "yale-parey", then Mullah Pyshak beat him out of him – "kakkan". When Yale was knocked out, he flew around the house in the form of fire, flew out, and returned again. The mullah uttered ancient conspiracies, beat the Yale with a bridle. "The patient was forced to spin, dance to exhaustion and beat him with a whip or a belt" ^[21].

The rite of "shaking out" (kagyu)it consisted in the following: the patient was placed on a chair in the middle of the room, which was fumigated. A juniper or birch broom was used for fumigation. Then, with the same broom or men's trousers, the victim was slightly beaten, imitating movements that expel an evil spirit from the body. At the same time, the whole process was accompanied by the recitation of verses from the Koran. The ceremony was held at night, this was explained by the fact that the exiled spirit could hit another person. The patient was not supposed to leave the house for several days until he recovered, and in general, it was not recommended for this person to walk at night in the future ^{[8, p. 100; 21]}.

In addition to the kagyu rite, intimidation was also used to treat diseases, for which they burned gunpowder (gunpowder to the yter u) next to the patient, and also shot a gun (attyru). In the swampy Tatars, a gun was fired from behind over the patient's shoulder, since it was believed that the evil spirit au cancer clings to the back (y eltk a g a yabyshat) of a person. This rite was also accompanied by the recitation of Muslim prayers.

Elements of shamanism are observed in the healing ceremony of the disease uynatma (from the word uynau – to dance). The mullah used a musical instrument (according to one informant, it was a violin) to make a sick woman dance until she fell down and gave up the bone she was hiding. Healing came only when she gave away this bone. Most likely, the cause of this disease was also considered an evil spirit that possessed the patient. ^{[8, p. 100; 21]}.

L. R. Surmetova, in her article devoted to the folklore of the Siberian Tatars, also describes this rite in detail: in order to expel the disease, the melody "Shaitan Mogami" in the rare folklore genre "mogam" was performed on a violin or other musical instruments (type, kubyz or harmony). In the Vagai district, there was such a version of the text for the melody "Shaitan Mogam":

Yel karagai bashlaryn tigenYeltap altym, yeltap altym

Khonnar maita, chynar maita,

Kem tyymagai, colter May^{[15, p. 61]}.

And in the Tobolsk district there was another version of the text:

Bass, basalla, basyrgalla,Baz ostend basyrgalla.

Basma tushaklar osten

Shaitan belan kasygrilla ^{[15, p. 62]}.

Due to the complexity of the translation, we offer only the Tatar version of the mokama texts. In the Tobolsk district, there was also another option for expelling the disease with the help of music: the patient was warmly dressed and taken to a low-lying area in the middle of the village and under the sound (also on some musical instrument) of the melody "Shaitan Mogam" they sang "semi-meaning words that many people knew in the village" ^{[15, p. 62]}.

Thus, the mystical layer of Islam – Sufism - played a huge role in the preservation of pre-Islamic beliefs that integrated Islamic values into themselves. The ritual practice of Sufism, including the cult of saints and sacred burials, miraculous relics and symbols, was close to the traditions of pagan shamanism of the ancestors of the Siberian Tatars ^{[4; 5; 10; 13; 14]}.

The Siberian Tatars have a stable cult of saints associated with the sheikhs-missionaries of Islam (yakshylar). Some healers claim that yakshylar – holy people blessed them for this God-pleasing work. Usually, according to their stories, the saints come to them in a dream or in reality, informing them that this person can now heal. For example, the folk healer Z. Almankaeva, who lives in D. Varvara of the Yarkovsky district, where Sheikha Daut's Astana is located, before starting treatment, asks permission from a vliya (saint). At the end of treatment, healed people traditionally give sadaqah to Astana, i.e. actually buried sheikhs ^{[7, p. 81]}.

Acquiring the ability to heal also has features similar to acquiring a shamanic gift. Most informants believe that the gift of a special vision is given to a person from birth. But they most often became the owners of healing knowledge after they suffered a serious illness, experienced an altered state of consciousness, for example, they were in a lethargic dream. This category of healers more than others has preserved the elements of practice inherent in shamans. Like the shamanic dynasties that existed, the Siberian Tatars also had their own special kind of siskerto (from the word siz u – to anticipate, i.e. lit.: a kind of seers), whose representatives more often became clairvoyants ^{[7, p. 81]}.

As we can see, the traditional medicine of the Siberian Tatars carries many archaic features associated with pre-Islamic beliefs, in particular, with shamanism and the cult of ancestors.

Some attributes of shamanism, such as shamanic illness, connection with ancestors, kamlanie, clairvoyance in one form or another have been preserved by healers. The new religion, Islam, adopted by the Siberian Tatars, transformed the former religious system, but many features have been preserved to this day, showing the existence of a single common Turkic worldview, characteristic of the Siberian Tatars ^{[4; 5; 10; 13; 14]}.

On the example of the categories considered, similarities in their capabilities are visible: clairvoyance (kuremce, imce, sihyrce), diagnosis of diseases, treatment (imce, kuremce, sihyrce), kamlaniya (imce, sihyrce), prediction of the future, communication with spirits (kuremce, sihyrce). But at the same time there is a certain "specialization" of shamanists. It is noteworthy that among the Siberian Tatars, a strong well-read mullah could have the abilities of both imce, kuremce and sihyrce at the same time. It should also be noted that often in the Tatar environment the Kuremets were deeply religious Muslims and treated their healing abilities as a gift from the Almighty.

You can simply select and copy link from below text field.