Shaman
This symbol represents the Shaman, a medicine man who is responsible
for cultural knowledge where writing does not exist. The word Shaman
comes from an extinct Ural-Altaic language called Tungus. In the ancient
Siberian Tungus language, shaman is defined as a spiritual leader, a medicine
man/woman,and the priests of old tribal societies. While a medicine man
will tend to the sick, working with herbs, barks and the like, the shaman
works more on the psychological level. He will go down on "a journey" for
the benefit of the one who is ill. He will seek out new knowledge and he
will accompany the spirits of the dead on their journey to the afterlife.
Shamanism arose at least 8,000 years ago, possibly in Siberia, from where
it spread into North and South America, China, Japan and Korea and then
to South East Asia. The Eskimos, Maoris, Polynesians, Mongolians and the
American Indians are some of the peoples that believe in the abilities of
shamans. Shamans (Shamankas in the feminine form) have practiced in
every known culture, many of which are still active today.
