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Shamanism related Trickster god/spirit, Raven or Crow
Big Raven Kutkh is important in the shamanic tradition of the Koryaks and other indigenous Chukotko-Kamchatkan peoples of the Russian Far East, Chukchi, Koryaks, and Itelmens. Many of the stories regarding Kutkh are similar to those of the Raven among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, the Tsimishians, Haidas, Heiltsuks, Tlingits, Tahltan, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Coast Salish, Koyukons, and Inuit, indicating cultural contact between North Asian and North American peoples. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“Kutkh (also Kutkha, Kootkha, Kutq, Kutcha and other variants, Russian: Кутх) is a Raven spirit traditionally revered in various forms by various indigenous peoples of the Russian Far East. Kutkh appears in many legends: as a key figure in creation, as a fertile ancestor of mankind, as a mighty shaman, and as a trickster. He is a popular subject of the animist stories of the Chukchi people and plays a central role in the mythology of the Koryaks and Itelmens of Kamchatka. Many of the stories regarding Kutkh are similar to those of the Raven among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, suggesting a long history of indirect cultural contact between Asian and North American peoples. Raven Tales are the traditional human and animal creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They are also found among Athabaskan-speaking peoples and others. Raven stories exist in nearly all of the First Nations throughout the region but are most prominent in the tales of the Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Tahltan people. The raven also has a prominent role in the mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, including the Tsimishians, Haidas, Heiltsuks, Tlingits, Kwakwaka’wakw, Coast Salish, Koyukons, and Inuit. The raven in these indigenous peoples’ mythology is the Creator of the world, but it is also considered a trickster God. The raven god or spirit Kutcha (or Kutkh, (Кутх)) is important in the shamanic tradition of the Koryaks and other indigenous Chukotko-Kamchatkan peoples of the Russian Far East. Kutcha is traditionally revered in various forms by various peoples and appears in many legends: as a key figure in creation, as a fertile ancestor of mankind, as a mighty shaman, and as a trickster. He is a popular subject of the animist stories of the Chukchi people and plays a central role in the mythology of the Koryaks and Itelmens of Kamchatka. Many of the stories regarding Kutkh are similar to those of the Raven among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, indicating a long history of indirect cultural contact between Asian and North American peoples. Two ravens or crows, flying over the warrior’s head in battle, symbolized in Yakut mythology the Ilbis Kyyha and Ohol Uola, two evil spirits of war and violence. Some other gods or spirits in yakut shamanism, including Uluu Suorun Toyon and Uluutuar Uluu Toyon, are described as “great raven of cloudy sky.” ref, ref, ref
“Kutkh is known widely among the people that share a common Chukotko-Kamchatkan language family. Regionally, he is known as Kúrkil among the Chukchi; as Kutq among the Itelmens; and as KútqI, KútqIy, or KúsqIy among the southeastern Koryaks and KúykIy or QúykIy among the northwestern Koryaks. In Koryak, the name is employed commonly in its augmentative form (KutqÍnnaku, KusqÍnnaku, KuyÍnnaku), all meaning “Big Kutkh” and often translated simply as “God.” The tales of Kutkh come in many, often contradictory versions. In some tales, he is explicitly created by a Creator and lets the dawn onto the earth by chipping away at the stones surrounding her. In others, he creates himself (sometimes out of an old fur coat) and takes pride in his independence from the Creator. In some, Kamchatka is created as he drops a feather while flying over the earth. In others, islands and continents are created by his defecation, rivers and lakes out of his waters. The difficult volcanic terrain and swift rivers of Kamchatka are thought to reflect Kutkh’s capricious and willful nature.” ref
“The bringing of light in the form of the sun and the moon is a common theme. Sometimes, he tricks an evil spirit that has captured the celestial bodies in a style analogous to legends about the Tlingit and Haida in the Pacific Northwest. In others, it is he who must be tricked into releasing the sun and the moon from his bill. Kutkh’s virility is emphasized in many legends. Many myths concern his children copulating with other animal spirits and creating the people that populate the world. In the animistic tradition of north-Eurasian peoples, Kutkh has a variety of interactions and altercations with Wolf, Fox, Bear, Wolverine, Mouse, Owl, Dog, Seal, Walrus, and a host of other spirits. Many of these interactions involve some sort of trickery in which Kutkh comes out on top about as often as he is made a fool of.” ref
“An example of these contradictions is given to the Chukchi legend of Kutkh and the Mice. The great and mighty raven Kutkh was flying through the cosmos. Tired from constant flight, he regurgitated the Earth from his gut, transformed into an old man, and alighted on the empty land to rest. Out of his first footsteps emerged the first Mice. Curious, playful, and fearless, they entered the sleeping Kutkh’s nose. The fury of the subsequent sneeze buckled the earth and created the mountains and the valleys. Attempts to stamp them out led to the formation of the ocean. Further harassments led to a great battle between the forces of snow and fire, which created the seasons. Thus, the variable world recognizable to people emerged from the dynamic interaction between the mighty Kutkh and the small but numerous Mice.” ref
“Although Kutkh is supposed to have given mankind variously light, fire, language, fresh water, and skills such as net-weaving and copulation, he is also often portrayed as a laughing-stock, hungry, thieving, and selfish. In its contradictions, his character is similar that of other trickster gods, such as Coyote. The image of Kutkh remains popular and iconic in Kamchatka, used often in advertising and promotional materials. Stylized carvings of Kutkh by Koryak artisans, often adorned with beads and lined with fur, are sold widely as souvenirs. The Chukchi creator-deity, roughly analogous to Bai-Ulgan of the Turkic pantheon. The Koryaks refer to him as Quikinna’qu (“Big Raven”), and in Kamchadal (Itelmens) mythology, he is called Kutkhu.” ref
“The early Russian explorer and ethnographer of Kamchatka Stepan Krasheninnikov (1711–1755) summarizes the Itelmen’s relationship to Kutkh as follows:
They pay no homage to him and never ask any favor of him; they speak of him only in derision. They tell such indecent stories about him that I would be embarrassed to repeat them. They upbraid him for having made too many mountains, precipices, reefs, sand banks and swift rivers, for causing rainstorms and tempests which frequently inconvenience them. In winter when they climb up or down the mountains, they heap abuses on him and curse him with imprecations. They behave the same way when they are in other difficult or dangerous situations.” ref
The Ainu thank the crow for having saved mankind from the sun-devouring devil
“When God created the world, the evil one did all he could to frustrate His designs, especially with regard to human beings. Now, after all things were made, the devil perceived that men could not possibly live without the light and warmth-giving sun. He therefore made up his mind to destroy that beautiful and useful work of creation, and thereby injure men. So he got up early one morning, long before the sun had risen, with the intention of swallowing it. But God knew of his designs, and made a crow to circumvent them. When the sun was rising, the evil one opened his mouth to swallow it, but the crow, who was lying in wait, flew down his throat and so saved it. “Hence, the crows, remembering the benefits they once conferred upon the human race, have an idea that they may do just as they like with men, and live upon the food they provide for the sustenance of themselves and their families. Thus we find that they have good cause for being bold and saucy, and it is not for men to say that crows are useless creatures.” ref
Birds in “Northern Japanese” Indigenous people, the Ainu: Myth and Worship
“The owl and the raven have been regarded as birds of evil omen by widely distributed nations, while the stork is held in great esteem by the Japanese. According to their way of thinking, there are birds which rightly belong in heaven above, birds which may only dwell on the earth below, and birds which have their proper home in Hades under the earth. There are divine birds and demon birds, birds good, birds bad, and birds indifferent. An Ainu, speaking to me about birds, told me of certain taboos regarding their cry. He said:-“There are five special birds whose cry should not be imitated by anyone.” ref
“Cikap-kamuy (also called Kotan-kor-kamuy, which should not be confused with Kotan-kar-kamuy) is the Ainu kamuy (god) of owls and the land. He is responsible for overseeing the behavior of humans and kamuy. He is considered a deity of material success. Cikap-Kamuy’s most important myth establishes him as a god of plenty who ensures that rituals are being enacted properly. As the story goes, famine had struck the land, and humankind was starving. Cikap-Kamuy wished to send a message to heaven inquiring about the cause of the famine, and he asked Crow to be his messenger. His message and instructions were very lengthy, however, and it took him days to recite them. On the third day, Crow fell asleep, and Cikap-Kamuy grew angry and killed him. Accordingly, Cikap-Kamuy went to the humans and taught them the proper rituals to be enacted after killing a fish or a deer. Once the humans began performing these rituals, the kamuy were appeased, and the famine ceased. The Ainu considered the hondo crow and the mountain jay birds of ill omen as a result of this myth.” ref
“Japanese Shinto has karasu-tengu, half-crow, half-human goblins, and yatagarasu, a three-legged crow whose appearance is evidence of divine intervention. Crows abound in ukiyo-e, and a particularly nurturing one is the star of a Japanese children’s song, “Nanatsu no ko,” about a mother crow looking after her seven lovely crow children. There are actually 2 species of crow in Japan, the Jungle Crow and the Carrion Crow. The Jungle Crow normally lives in the cities and areas above 1000 meters, while the Carrion Crow often lives in the rural areas of Japan. Crows do perform at least one useful action in that they hunt and eat mice. For a city the size and density of Tokyo, it’s amazing how rarely one sees any mice or rats in the city. The crows have made the rodent problem almost non-existent. There are actually 2 castles in Japan with the nickname “Crow Castle.” These are Okayama Castle and Matsumoto Castle. As you might have guessed, these castles have black exteriors, due to black painted wood placed over the plaster walls.” ref
“In The Kojiki, there is no mention of 3 legs for Yatagarasu, only that it is a crow eight feet long. If we look towards the mythologies of Japan’s neighbors, we can find the answer. China for a long time had a 3 legged crow in its mythologies. In the early period of Japan’s history, Chinese culture heavily influenced Japanese culture, and this 3 legged crow also seems to have been adopted into the Japanese lore. In Chinese lore, this 3 legged crow is Sanzuniao and is red and associated with the sun. In Japanese mythology, this flying creature is a raven or a jungle crow called Yatagarasu (“eight-span crow”), and the appearance of the great bird is construed as evidence of the will of Heaven or divine intervention in human affairs. Although Yatagarasu is mentioned in a number of places in Shintō, the depictions are primarily seen on Edo wood art, dating back to the early 1800s wood-art era.” ref
“Although not as celebrated today, the crow is a mark of rebirth and rejuvenation; the animal that has historically cleaned up after great battles symbolized the renaissance after such tragedy. Yatagarasu as a crow-god is a symbol specifically of guidance. This great crow was sent from heaven as a guide for Emperor Jimmu on his initial journey from the region which would become Kumano to what would become Yamato, (Yoshino and then Kashihara). It is generally accepted that Yatagarasu is an incarnation of Taketsunimi no mikoto, but none of the early surviving documentary records are quite so specific. In more than one instance, Yatagarasu appears as a three-legged crow not in Kojiki but in Wamyō Ruijushō.” ref
The three-legged crow totemic bird-Sun motif
“The three-legged (or tripedal) crow is a mythological creature in various mythologies and arts of East Asia. It is believed to inhabit and represent the Sun. Evidence of the earliest bird-Sun motif or totemic articles was excavated around 5000 BCE, or 7,000 years ago, in China. This bird-Sun totem heritage was observed in later Yangshao and Longshan cultures. Also, in Northeast Asia, artifacts of birds and phoenix observed to be a symbol of leadership was excavated from around 5500 BCE in Xinle culture and later Hongshan culture from Liao river basin. The Chinese have several versions of crow and crow-Sun tales. But the most popular depiction and myth of the Sun crow is that of the Yangwu or Jinwu, the “golden crow“. It has also been found figured on ancient coins from Lycia and Pamphylia. In Chinese mythology and culture, the three-legged crow is called the sanzuwu (simplified Chinese: 三足乌; traditional Chinese: 三足烏; pinyin: sān zú wū; Cantonese: saam1zuk1wu1; Shanghainese: sae tsoh u) and is present in many myths. It is also mentioned in the Shanhaijing. The earliest known depiction of a three-legged crow appears in Neolithic pottery of the Yangshao culture. The sanzuwu in a disc represents the sun and is also one of the Twelve Ornaments that is used in the decoration of formal imperial garments in ancient China.” ref
The Epic of the Raven Among the Paleoasiatics
Relations Between Northern Asia and Northwest America in Folklore
“The myths and tales relative to the Raven are among the most evident cultural elements that unite the peoples of Northeast Asia and those of Northwest America. In Asia, as in America, the Raven appears in the role of civilizing hero and also in that of trickster and mythological rascal; moreover, a good number of subjects have a resonance on both sides of the Bering Sea. To identify these subjects, an attentive analysis of the folklore is often necessary, but the results are quite clear. Legends of the Raven are to be found in all the tribes of Kamchatka, of the peninsula of the Chukchees and of Alaska: among the Itelmenes, the Koriaks, and the Chukchees, among the Athabascans of the North, the Eyaks, the Tlingits, the Haïdas, the Tsimshians, the Kwakiutls and other Indians of the northwest coast, and finally among the Eskimos and the Aleuts. These legends create a well-defined folklore region beyond whose limits we find either echoes of the different themes of the Raven (a result of the direct influence of Chukchee folklore or of the Indians of the Northwest) or very primitive tales in which the Raven does not appear as the civilizing hero, and is presented minus his religious-mythological halo primarily in a negative aspect. We find these kinds of stories not only on the periphery of the area of diffusion of the Raven epic but also in other folklore areas, often quite distant.” ref
Raven Spiritual Meaning: Unveiling Its Mystical Symbolism
“Ravens are amazing birds with shiny black feathers, wicked looks, and a high IQ. For centuries, people have been interested in them. In different cultures, they are considered messengers, symbols of wisdom, and carriers of important spiritual meanings. Besides being birds, they are far more than simple birds, reflecting their relation to the otherworld. They have many symbols, but they all mean they are signs of change, growth, or discovery. Thus, when people see a raven, they might ask themselves, “Why is this bird here now?” The answer lies in its rich symbolism. These birds make us see beyond and grow to accept the unexpected and accept everything life offers. They make us open our eyes and connect with the spiritual side of life. This article will tell you everything you need to know about them. Ravens are not mere birds; they are perceived as beings of mystery, change, and wisdom. Many cultures see the raven as a bird with rich spiritual symbolism. People believed it could deliver messages from the spirit world, so its existence is significant.” ref
“Its black coloration suggests mystery or things one cannot explain. This might encourage us to pursue the unknown or mysterious in the world around us. Their feathers are soft but firm enough. They are referred to as messengers between the earth and the spirit world. Having looked at ravens, people discovered that they make many sounds, including caws and clicks. It is believed that these sounds contain messages from the spirit world. Ravens are brilliant birds. They are capable problem solvers and may even recognize faces. This proves that they are symbols of wisdom and intelligence among the vices of civilization. Ravens have always been associated with change, the mysteries of darkness, and leadership in the dark. They appear at important times in people’s lives and can be considered spirit guides. When a raven appears, it tells people to believe in themselves and take chances. In many cultures, they are believed to be birds that underline the physical and spiritual realms. They help guide us through difficult phases of life and call for change. The more we know about each symbol, the more we can learn from the story to help individuals develop emotionally and spiritually.” ref
“Ravens have different significances in different cultures. In ancient Germanic times, they were considered the symbol of Odin, the god of wisdom and knowledge. According to Native Americans, they represent creators, healers, or tricksters. In Christianity, they are seen as a symbol of God’s provision, as in the Bible, when God sent them to feed the prophet Elijah. In each culture, this bird has significance and is a symbolic bird. In Celtic, the Ravens are associated with war and magic and are portrayed as protectors or guides. As we have seen, different tribes observe them as part of their family or as messages from the spirit world. Regarding the lore of these birds in Japanese culture, they are associated with family and protection. Every culture has its significance to these magnificent birds. Ravens have been important in many cultures and religions. However, their viral presence is regarded differently based on beliefs and traditions. From being the messengers of gods to representing mystery, these birds possess deep spiritual and cultural connotations. In most religious cultures, these birds are known to mediate the relationship between the material and the world of spirits. They inspire us to look inside ourselves, transform, and learn from a slice of life. That is why they are related to spirituality and personal development.” ref
“In Norse mythology, ravens symbolize the servant of Odin, the lord of wisdom. He had two ravens as messengers named Huginn, which means thought, and Muninn, which means memory. In Celtic cultures, these birds mainly symbolized war and protection and are related to the goddess Morrigan. It is common for Native Americans to have misconceptions, thinking of these birds as tricksters, creators, or messengers of the afterworld. In tribal consciousness, this bird has always been considered holy and associated with creation and change. The Chinese people associate this bird with the sun, representing vitality and resurrection. When you observe two ravens chancing, it is an omen of duality. This could refer to a division between light and darkness, male and female, or two aspects of a personality. It also suggests propinquity in matters to do with relationships and togetherness. Two ravens can also be interpreted as a message of teamwork and cooperation in your life. They could tell you to maintain friendships and ensure your social life is healthy. Regarding its spiritual connotations, one signifies growth, and the other signifies stagnation. The second represents strength when opposite forces are joined.” ref
Ravens in Uralic-speaking peoples’ mythology and folklore (such as in Finns and Sámi)
“In the mythology and folklore of the Uralic peoples (including Finns, Sámi, the indigenous Chukotko-Kamchatkan peoples of the Russian Far East, like the Koryaks, and others), ravens hold a significant and multifaceted role. The Sami people talk of the raven’s feather of knowledge, called the laevedolge. Uralic-speakers may have spread westwards with the Seima-Turbino route. This special feather gives the raven its knowledge about the ways of the wolf and how to find food. Hunters are able to harness the knowledge of the laeveldge for themselves if they find a dying raven, pluck it, and place its feathers in a stream. The laevedolge feather will flow against the current, and if the hunter is able to keep it for three nights, then it will belong to him and guide him in his hunting. The indigenous people of Finland have a similar tradition, which states that a raven has a feather of good fortune, and if a hunter can obtain this feather, he will be blessed with fortune in his hunting.” ref
“In ancient Finland, ravens were powerful animals connected to witchcraft, and often shamans had ravens as their pets. It was important for the shaman, the wise man, or the woman to know all the birth myths because it was believed that when you knew the magical origins of all things, then you had the ability to control them. Raven being born on a charcoal hill refers to its black colour, and different parts of the raven being made of potsherd and a kettle directly link it to witchcraft.” ref
“Here is the birth poem of the raven:
Iknow the raven´s origin, from what the blackbird was obtained, how the raven was bred: the scoundrelly raven, Lempo´s bird, the most disgusting bird of air was born on a charcoal hill, was reared on a coal heath, was gathered from burning brands, was bred from charcoal sticks, of potsherds its head was made, it´s breastbone from Lempo´s spinning wheel, it´s tail from Lempo´s sail, it’s shanked from crooked sticks, it´s belly from a wretch sack, it´s guts from Lempo´s needle-case, from an air-ring it´s rump, from a worn-out kettle it´s a crop, it´s neck from Hiisi´s weaving-stool, it´s beak from sorcerer´s arrow-tip, it´s tongue from Äijö´s axe, it´s eyes from a mussel pearl.” ref
“Lempo is an old Finnish deity for whom we don´t have much information left. It was sometimes believed to be the darker aspect of Tapio, the forest god (or possibly a completely separate being). If Tapio ruled the daytime forest, and offered shelter for animals, food, and material for humans. Lempo would bring nightmares and rule the shadows in the woods. Lempo was possibly connected to death and the underworld. Hiisi is another controversial character in Finnish mythology. Hiisi could have been a troll or a giant, like a creature, but in the earliest mythical layers, hiisi was a sacred place, a grove in nature where people went to worship old pagan gods. Äijö is another name for Ukko, the god of thunder and rain. Raven was connected to some of the most powerful Finnish gods and goddesses, and it had a reputation for being one of the most magical and mysterious birds.” ref
“When raven hatched eggs, one of the eggs was heavier than the others, and it was a magical stone. It gave the shaman the ability to speak the language of ravens, understand the mysteries and ancient wisdom of the ancestors, and the underworld. Stone could turn the shaman invisible, and it could fulfil all their wishes. Raven´s stomach being made from a wretched sack refers to ravens not being picky eaters. In Finnish mythology, ravens were popular spirit guides for the shamans, and many times when a shaman travelled into the underworld, they would take the form of a bird. In Finnish mythology, there were three layers of the world: Ylinen, the upper world where all the highest of the spirits lived, and Keskinen, the middle world.” ref
“A place for all humans, animals, plants, and all elemental deities. Then there was Alinen, the underworld. Ancestors lived in the underworld, and in the original world view, the underworld was not like the Christian version of Hell. It was a place where the spirits of the ancestors waited for reincarnation. These levels were not concrete places. They represented the different aspects of rebirth in nature. Raven was believed to be a creature of the underworld, Alinen. Ravens and black animals, in general, were often connected to the underworld, and people feared the same way as they feared and respected their ancestors.” ref
“Birds play a wide variety of roles in Native American mythology. Frequently, they serve as messengers from the Creator or between humans and the spirit world. Eagle plays a leadership role in the mythology of many tribes, while Raven is frequently portrayed as a culture hero, trickster, or both. Other Native American birds play the parts of heroes, villains, wise advisors, flighty suitors, jealous competitors, and everything in between. Birds are common clan animals in many different Native American tribes. Besides the major clans related to specific types of birds (such as the Eagle Clan and the Raven Clan,) there are also generalized Bird Clans in some tribes, such as the Bird Clan of the Creek tribe (called Fusualgi or Fuswvlke,) the Bird Clan of the Cherokees (called Anijisqua or Anitsiskwa), or the Feather Clan of the Mi’kmaq tribe. Birds are the most important clan crests of most Northwest Coast tribes and are commonly carved onto totem poles (especially Eagle, Raven, and Thunderbird).” ref
“Nuu-chah-nulth mythology is the historical oral history of the Nuu-chah-nulth, a group of indigenous peoples living on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Many animals have a spirit associated with them; for example, Chulyen (crow) and Guguyni (raven) are trickster gods.” ref
“The Haida are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their national territories lie along the west coast of Canada and include parts of southeast Alaska. The highest being in all Haida mythology and the one who gave power to the Sǥā’na qeda’s was Sîns sǥā’naǥwa-i, translated as ‘Power-of-the-Shining-Heavens’. Some have the ability to transform between animal and human forms, while others do not. In the art, creatures can sometimes be found with anthropomorphic features, especially human faces, inside or as part of their bodies, denoting this transformative ability. Within Haida mythology, Raven is a central character, as he is for many of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas; see Raven Tales. While frequently described as a “trickster“, Haidas believe Raven, or Yáahl, to be a complex reflection of one’s own self. Raven can be a magician, a transformer, a potent creative force, a ravenous debaucher, but always a cultural hero. He is responsible for creating Haida Gwaii, releasing the sun from its tiny box, and making the stars and the moon. In one story, he released the first humans from a clamshell on the beach; in another story, he brought the first humans up out of the ground because he needed to fill up a party he was throwing. Raven stories on one level teach listeners how to live a good life, but usually by counterexample. Raven has been described as the greediest, most lecherous, and mischievous creature known to the Haida, but at the same time, Raven often helps humans in our encounters with other supernatural beings. Raven acquired such things as freshwater, salmon, and the house for humans. Robert Bringhurst has noted that Raven never actually creates anything; he made the world by stealing, exchanging, redistributing, and generally moving things around.” ref
Native American Raven Mythology
“In the mythology of many Northwest Indian tribes, Raven is honored as a culture hero. He is a revered and benevolent transformer figure who helps the people and shapes their world for them, but at the same time, he is also a trickster character, and many Raven stories have to do with his frivolous or poorly thought-out behavior causing trouble for him and the people around him. Raven is noted for negative traits such as gluttony, greed, and impatience as well as for his heroism and great deeds. Ravens are also used as clan animals in many Native American cultures, particularly those of the Northwest Coast (such as the Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, Nisgaa-Gitksan, and Salishan tribes) and the northern Athabaskan tribes (such as the Tanaina.) Raven is an important clan crest on the Northwest Coast and can often be found carved onto totem poles, bentwood boxes, and other traditional northwestern art. Other tribes with Raven Clans include the Menominee tribe.” ref
Arctic Raven (Eskimo-Aleut tribes)
Dotson’sa (Alaskan Athabaskan)
Northwest Raven (Northwest Coast tribes)
Raven Tales:
A collection of traditional Northwest Coast Raven legends presented by the Quileute tribe.
Raven’s Athabaskan Tales:
Online collection of seven Ahtna and other Alaskan Athabaskan legends about the trickster hero Raven.
Raven Annoys Octopus:
Northwest Coast Raven legend about the trickster learning a lesson about pestering others.
Flying Wonder:
Cree legend about a witch taking the form of a raven to take revenge on his inlaws.
Raven and His Grandmother:
Aleut myths about the wives of the trickster hero Raven.
Books of Raven Stories from Native American Myth and Legend
The Raven Steals the Light:
An excellent collection of Raven myths and stories by an acclaimed Haida artist.
How Raven Stole The Sun:
A wonderful picture book telling the classic Raven story about the origin of daylight.
A Man Called Raven:
Beautiful book by a Native author and artist about a Raven spirit teaching respect for nature.
Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest:
Another children’s book about Raven stealing the Sun.
Trickster Myths from the Ahtna Indians of Alaska:
Collection of Native Alaskan stories about the trickster hero Raven.
Ravensong: A Natural And Fabulous History Of Ravens And Crows:
Fascinating book exploring both the natural history of ravens and crows, and their meaning in Native American mythology.
American Indian Trickster Tales:
Compilation of more than a hundred Raven and other trickster stories from many different tribes.
Use discretion sharing these with kids as some of the stories contain adult humor.
Trickster: Native American Tales:
Excellent collection of stories about Raven and other trickster animals told by Native American storytellers from various tribes.
This collection is suitable for all ages.
Spirits of the Earth: A Guide to Native American Nature Symbols, Stories, and Ceremonies:
Book by a Karuk elder about the meanings of Indian animal spirits, including a chapter on ravens.
Native American Animal Stories:
Great collection of American Indian tales about ravens and other animals, told by Abenaki storyteller Joseph Bruchac.
Native American Crow Mythology
“Seeing a crow was (and still is!) considered good luck by many tribes. It is true that crows will eat carrion, but so do many other animals not typically associated with the dead such as bald eagles, bears, etc. In Native American folklore, the intelligence of crows is usually portrayed as their most important feature. In some tribes, the crow is conflated with the raven, a larger cousin of the crow that shares many of the same characteristics. In other tribes, Crow and Raven are distinct mythological characters. Crows are also used as clan animals in some Native American cultures. Crow Mother (Hopi) Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico. In the Native American creation myth of the Gros Ventre people, an Algonquian-speaking tribe located in north-central Montana, a myth features the Crow as the only original animal to survive the Great Flood.” ref
Rainbow Crow Legend Mànàka’has, the Rainbow Crow:
Lenni Lenape myths about Crow bringing fire to the people.
How The Crow Came To Be Black A Crow Story:
Plains Indian legends about Crow’s feathers becoming black due to an alliance with the buffalo.
The Magic Pots:
Chippewa Indian story about disobedient children who were turned into crows.
When the Animals Left Lenapé Land:
Lenape Indian legend about giants and crows that taught the people a lesson about respecting animals.
The Creation of the World:
Gros Ventre myth featuring Crow as the only original animal to survive the Great Flood.
Native American Blackbird Mythology
“Blackbirds are a symbol of corn in many Plains Indian cultures, and for this reason are considered sacred in certain contexts. In the mythology of the Arikara and Mandans, blackbirds are the servants of the Corn Mother. Some Sioux people believed that when flocks of blackbirds ate their crops, it was divine punishment for failing to properly honor the corn. Blackbird medicine is also used in Arapaho Sun Dance rituals. The Hopi consider blackbirds one of the directional guardians, associated with the underworld. Blackbirds are also used as clan animals in some Native American cultures. Tribes with Blackbird Clans include the Chickasaw tribe. The Chumash also have a Blackbird Dance among their tribal dance traditions, and one of the traditional Arapaho youth societies was called the Blackbirds.” ref
Birds of Algonquin Legend:
Interesting collection of legends about blackbirds and other birds in Algonquian tribes.
Dog and human from Raven’s perspective: An interpretation of Raven myths of Alaskan Athabascans
“The Yeniseian peoples, including the Ket and Yugh, are known to have had raven figures in their mythology, much like many Indigenous groups in Siberia and North America. However, detailed information about specific Yeniseian raven myths is less widely available in English compared to the rich raven lore of groups like the Koryaks, Chukchi, or Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Raven appears as an important character in many Alaskan Athabascan myths. He is depicted as a powerful shaman who transforms the world through magic.” ref
“Analyzing an often-neglected motif of Alaskan Athabascan Raven stories: Raven as Dog-eaters. By using mythological texts and ethnographic data collected in prior studies and from work in the community of Nikolai, Alaska. In some Alaskan Athabascan myths, Raven has a strong appetite for dog meat and assists his neighbors who slaughter their dogs for him. This motif appears to describe a sacrificial practice in which Raven, as a transformer, receives gifts of food in exchange for providing spiritual services and protection. However, in real life, Northern Athabascans do not practice typical animal sacrifice involving domestic animals. Additionally, they do not consider dogs suitable for human consumption. This raises several questions. What is the significance of dogs in Alaskan Athabascan societies? Why is Raven thought to be fond of dog meat in traditional Alaskan Athabascan stories? How can we explain this motif of “Dog as Raven’s Delicacy” through an ethnography of human–dog–raven relations in Alaskan Athabascan societies? By addressing these questions from the perspectives of comparative mythology, ethology, and the storytelling strategy.” ref
“Northern Athabascan mythology describes spectacles of wit, jealousy, humor, and cooperation among different characters, most of which bear the names of animals. In addition to well-known raven myths, there are serialized stories of journeys in which a hero subjugates huge predatory animals to establish a cosmological order in which humans hunt animals, and not vice versa. Storytelling was both an entertainment for long winter nights and an opportunity for young people to learn important life lessons. In the Upper Kuskokwim region, a part of the Northern Athabascan homeland in Interior Alaska, it is said that those who fall asleep during hwzosh (storytelling) time will live a short life. The animal people described in myths follow the traditional lifeways of the Northern Athabascans who narrate the myths. They canoe, fish with traps, hunt with bow and arrow, and ask shamans for favors in exchange for wonderful gifts. People are expected to spend “life lived like a story”, partly because myths teach proper behavior through good and bad examples of animal persons. For example, in an Upper Kuskowkim story, a thief turns into a sucker fish, and the items he or she has stolen transform into the bones of that fish. This story is told to teach children not to steal.” ref
“To a certain extent, myths are also based on the ethological observation of creatures of the boreal forest. This seems to be another reason why traditional stories are considered important for the growth of young people in these societies, where survival depends on a keen understanding of animal behavior. According to the Koyukon, another Northern Atabascan group1 who had strong marriage tie with some of the Upper Kuskokwim communities, Dotson’ sa (the Great Raven) is a powerful transformer of the world in their mythology. He is described as a cunning, self-centered character who monopolizes the prey his relatives catch while pretending to know nothing about it. Raven’s image overlaps with that of the raven as a bird. A Koyukon elder says, “You know, raven doesn’t hunt anything for himself. He gets his food the lazy way, just looking for whatever he can find that’s already dead. As in the old story, he always fools everyone, so he gets by easily.” ref
“Raven’s fame as a trickster is reflected in its name. In the Upper Kuskokwim Athabascan language, which is akin to the Koyukon language, dotron’ (raven) translates literally as “shitter”, according to Raymond L. Collins, who documented the language during the 1960s. Upper Kuskokwim mythology includes an episode in which Raven uses magic to transform spruce boughs and his own droppings into fine clothes. At the end of this story, the fine clothes disappear, and the girl who wears them ends up covered in Raven’s droppings. (See Example 2 in the Results section.) According to the Koyukon people, no sooner do ravens find a wolf kill than they land there and foul it with excrement. Upper Kuskokwim people also note that ravens have the habit of scattering their droppings around carcasses to keep other animals away. This explains why the raven is called “shitter”. As discussed later in this paper, there are quite a few examples of close connections between the details of mythological motifs and ecological observations.” ref
However, some motifs in Raven myths are hard to interpret. In the Koyukon and Upper Kuskokwim mythologies, when people have a favor to ask of Raven, the surest way to have that favor granted is for them to fatten a dog, slaughter it and serve it as nemaje (a dish of mashed fish or animal fat and berries, also known as “Indian ice cream”) or boiled meat to Raven (Examples 1, 2 and 4). I call this motif “Dog as Raven’s Delicacy.” Still, Northern Athabascans in real life do not consider dog meat to be food, except in times of severe famine. Dogs are an important domestic animal among Northern Athabascan groups and are differentiated from wild animals, which are destined for human consumption. They have been used for transportation (as pack dogs and later sled dogs), for protecting camps, and as hunting aides.” ref
“They are alert to the approach of bears and other dangerous animals in camp, especially at night, which is important for safety at hunting and fishing camps. However, the barks of dogs can interfere with hunting, because the game may notice the presence of predators. While there is some uncertainty as to dogs’ contribution to hunting, people in the Mackenzie River region have used barking dogs to drive prey toward snares as well as to constrain the movement of game. In the Upper Kuskokwim region, there are customs for raising a good moose-hunting dog. One is to leave puppies in the rib cage of a dead moose for half an hour after the hunt. Another is to make a small collar for puppies and weave young buds of balsam poplar and willow, which are moose’s favorite foods, into it. Upper Kuskokwim people used to awaken hibernating bears by setting dogs into the den. They also have dogs that can track the blood of a wounded bear and guide hunters to its hiding place.” ref
“In pre-contact times, Northern Athabascan people used dog packs rather than dog traction, which required more dogs, before coming to participate fully in the fur trade. Scholars argue that few dogs were kept by Northern Athabascan groups in pre-contact times. From the pre-contact to the early contact periods, humans had to respect the autonomy of dogs and refrain from certain ways of interacting with them. As discussed in detail later, there used to be a taboo among Koyukon and Upper Kuskokwim Athabascans against speaking to dogs. The Kaska also forbade young women from socializing with dogs too much because they feared that the dogs might become attached to such women and might try to marry them. This caution against dog interspecies sexuality is clearly a reflection of the mythological motif of the Dog Husband widely reported in the Mackenzie River Basin.” ref
“However, the fur trade dramatically changed how people interacted with dogs. In Interior Alaska, the introduction of fishwheels during the Gold Rush in the early 20th century enabled people to keep multiple dogs for traction. Dog mushing became a crucial means of transportation during winter, including for postal services in rural Alaska. Dog keepers would treat young pups like their own children, although the pups would eventually have to endure a period of training. Based on fieldwork among the Hare during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Savishinsky sees parallels in the socialization processes of children and pups.” ref
“According to Nelson, Koyukon people would usually shoot dogs that had outlived their usefulness, but they took the trouble to burn the carcasses to prevent other animals from eating them. Betty Petruska, an Upper Kuskokwim elder, recalled that her older relative left a dog carcass in the forest with a piece of dried fish in its mouth. She did not know why the fish was left in its mouth, but it was likely a practice for placating the spirit of the dead dog. Other Northern Athabascan groups may have just discarded dead dogs in the bush. In any case, eating dog meat or using dog skin is very unusual in most Northern Athabascan societies. Now, we know that Raven’s fondness for dog meat and dog-skin robes is a very peculiar setting for a transformer figure in the mythology, where animal persons usually live a pre-contact lifestyle of Northern Athabascans. Myths do not necessarily “represent” the reality of the society in which the stories are narrated.” ref
“Why is it that the Koyukon and Upper Kuskokwim people, neither of whom eat dog meat or use dog skins, talk about killing dogs and serving dog meat to Raven in myths? As an attempt to answer the question from three perspectives: (1) the diffusion of mythological motifs, (2) ethological observations, and (3) rhetorical strategies in storytelling practices. Albeit an influential criticism on the use of the term “myth” in non-Western contexts, under the banner of mythology (e.g. diffusion). Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of northern Indigenous peoples leads the knowledge holders to a deep understanding of the environment, which is as accurate as or even more accurate than modern ecological research. The term “myth” is an analytical concept; its use here is far from the ethnocentric attitude of “Science for the West, Myth for the Rest”, which puts non-Western understanding of the world as mere representation and thus lacks foundation in reality.” ref
“The diffusion of mythological motifs between the Old World and the New World has been widely discussed since the Jesup North Pacific Expedition. Continuity in the myth motifs, pointed out more than 100 years ago, is the reason the investigation started by comparing the myths of Alaska and the Russian Far East. Non-Japanese researchers do not usually have good access to ethnographic data on Russian Far East groups (e.g., the Sakhalin Ainu) published in Japanese. Using Japanese and English sources, I show that the motif of Dog as Raven’s Delicacy also exists in the Russian Far East.” ref
“Nonetheless, there is room for interpretations other than diffusion because Upper Kuskokwim and Koyukon people talk about slaughtering dogs to feed ravens in mythology and do not necessarily eat dog meat themselves. The ethological perspective was chosen because many characteristics of animal persons in myth are based on observations of animal behaviors and bodily features. This argument is then supplemented by an analysis of storytelling strategies in Alaskan Athabascan groups because it is also true that “the specific myth cannot be simply interpreted as the result of the observation of natural phenomena”. In other words, myths cannot be mistaken for TEK, even though the latter informs the former in many cases. By interweaving these three approaches, are concluded by discussing how the motif of Dog as Raven’s Delicacy has been adapted to local boreal hunter-fisher contexts.” ref
“Possibility of the diffusion of motifs from the Russian Far East? It is interesting to note that some myths of Indigenous societies in the Russian Far East deal with the motif of Dog as Raven’s Delicacy in a way that is similar to those of Interior Alaska. In Koryak myths, Raven-Man, a voracious figure who is distinguished from Big Raven, is said to like dog meat and excrement, although he seems ashamed that he and his family need those things to survive the winter. The Koryak have a custom of sacrificing dogs to placate spirits, and most of the sacrifices are practiced between fall and spring. However, they do not eat dog meat themselves, except in times of famine. The sacrificed dogs would be skinned after the winter, and only the pelt was used for clothing. During the time of Jochelson’s fieldwork, each household in a Maritime Koryak village kept 10 dogs on average. It is no wonder that Raven-Man’s wife, in one Koryak story, brings back the carcass of a sacrificed dog from Big Raven’s house, as the Koryak themselves would leave such carcasses outside unattended.” ref
“It is intriguing to speculate that the Koryak practice of sacrificing dogs led ravens to feed on the skinned carcasses, thus contributing to the image of Raven-Man as subsisting on dog meat. In a Sakhalin Ainu myth, Raven (or Crow), mother and son, abduct a young woman to make her the son’s wife, but she is stolen back by three brothers from Sanuipet Village, the protagonists of the myth. In retaliation, the mother and son hide the sun and the moon, leaving the world in pitch darkness. Cognizant of the mother and son’s weakness for dog meat, the three brothers lure them out with the meat of a fattened dog and shoot them dead. As a result, the sun and the moon are restored. In a Nivkh myth, a young woman who ends up living in the house of Raven (Crow) rejects or kills him when he sneaks into her bedroom under the cover of darkness. When a flock of ravens comes to her to protest against the rejection or killing, she offers to provide weapons or other valuables as compensation in order to placate them, but the ravens decline the offer and demand dog guts instead.” ref
“What is interesting about the Nivkh myth is that the ravens ignore the woman’s proposal of compensation with valuables, which she makes before she offers to pay with dog meat. Similarly, in a Koyukon Raven myth in Alaska, people ask Raven to restore the sun, which has been stolen by someone, in exchange for quite a pile of valuables, but it is not until they offer to serve the boiled meat of two fattened dogs that Raven agrees to go and look for the sun (Example 4). In both myths, it is worth noting that Raven’s preference for dog meat is emphasized by his rejection of the offer of valuables. In the Sakhalin Ainu myth, Raven’s preference for dog meat and the stolen sun appear as motifs. Also in the Koyukon myth, Raven’s preference for dog meat has great significance to the plot, although in this case, Raven is the one who restores the sun, rather than the one who steals it.” ref
“However, to further analyze the motif of Dog as Raven’s Delicacy, it should be noted that the value placed on dogs as food differed significantly among different Indigenous groups in Interior Alaska and the Russian Far East. While Alaskan Athabascans and Koryak see dog meat as something undesirable for human consumption, the Nivkh and Sakhalin Ainu viewed dogs as a delicious food. The Nivkh used dogs as “currency”: a medium of exchange, a bride price, and a compensatory fine. In addition to consuming dogs given as ritual offerings, Nivkh people sacrificed dogs to pray for success in hunting and fishing and to placate divine spirits for violations of taboos. The Sakhalin Ainu sacrificed dogs as ritual offerings in prayers for recovery from illness. Before such a ritual took place, a dog would be presented to the shaman as a token of appreciation because the shaman’s helper spirit is said to love the blood of dogs.” ref
“Based on observations by Kreinovich and other ethnographers, Éveline Lot-Falck maintains that for hunting rituals in Indigenous communities in Siberia and the Russian Far East, people selected sacrificial animals to be offered to the owner of game from among animals that were not owned by that owner. For this reason, reindeer and dogs, which were domestic animals, were considered as proper offerings to the owner of game, who reigns over wild animals. It seems highly likely that dogs were the first sacrificial animals to be used before people domesticated reindeer. Lot-Falck argues that the “prayers” to the owner of the game during hunting rituals are best understood as simple commands like “grab” and “give” in many cases and thus stand for a call for exchange.” ref
While offerings to the owner of game and human shamans in Interior Alaska can also be described as “exchanges”, dogs were not viewed as a desirable medium for such exchange. The Upper Kuskokwim people say that dwarfs known as “mountain people” (dziłtohwt’ana) live in the foothills of the Alaska Range. They believe that the dwarfs provide them with game such as moose, caribou, bear, and Dall sheep in exchange for such offerings as cigarettes, dried fish, and pocket knives. It is thought that shamans (deninh) use supernatural powers to provide the clients with game. Conversely, if someone offends a shaman, the shaman can take away their luck or worse, can bring sickness or death upon the offense-giver. This explains why people often had given meat to shamans when they harvested game.” ref
“Upper Kuskokwim people remember that their parents would put dried fish in the fire as offerings for the spirits of shamans and would pray for good luck in hunting or recovery from illness. According to Upper Kuskokwim people, ravens sometimes let people know where to find game. Gracy Holmberg, a long-term resident of the Upper Kuskokwim region, even thinks that people can develop a cooperative relationship with ravens by feeding them so that they alert the feeder of any approaching predators. However, people in the Upper Kuskokwim region feed ravens with the guts of salmon, beavers, and other wild animals. Discarded dog carcasses are not usually considered as (intentional) offerings to the ravens.” ref
“Thus far, a comparative analysis of Indigenous communities shows some commonalities between Interior Alaska and the Russian Far East, such as the motif of Dog as Raven’s Delicacy and the idea of making offerings to shamans or spirits. However, people in Interior Alaska did not generally sacrifice domestic animals to spirits, and the value of dog meat there contrasts sharply with that in the Russian Far East, because Interior Alaskans do not usually eat dog meat nor use dog pelts for clothing. If we assume that the mythological motif of Dog as Raven’s Delicacy originated in Indigenous communities in the Russian Far East, the question remains as to why people in Interior Alaska did not accept, along with such motif, dog sacrifice and feasts of dog meat (e.g., the Nivkh and Sakhalin Ainu) or the use of dog pelts (e.g., the Koryak).” ref
Author: Traditional Inuit
Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE
“The story in which Raven steals the box of light and gives it to the people is indigenous to the Alaskan Tlingits and other Inuit groups across the Arctic region and even into Siberia, as well as the Haidas, Tsimshians, and other American Indians of the Pacific Northwest; it is one of the most widespread and well-known folktales of North America. This particular version is attributed to the Tlingits. Variations exist within their society, however, as well as across the geographic region. One common variation features Raven stealing a bouncing ball of light.” ref
“As a shape-shifter who can change back and forth between bird and human and inhabit both the spiritual and the earthly worlds, Raven serves as a revered cultural and spiritual figure. Although he can exhibit many undesirable qualities, such as laziness and selfishness, he is valued and even worshipped for the generous and good deeds he does for humans. In addition to bringing light to the people, some Inuit groups have credited Raven with bringing fire, creating the oceans and rivers, and putting salmon in the water, while some have considered him the creator of all life or the spirit who made order in the universe out of the original chaos. He has also been valued for his intelligence, ingenuity, and sense of humor, qualities that make him more appealing to humans. To many individuals, Raven symbolizes hope and direction in life by offering a path out of the darkness and into the light.” ref
“For his ability to transform and get into mischief, Raven is known as a trickster, a label that some American Indians attribute to Christian missionaries who attempted to associate animal deities with the devil. Thus, Raven’s negative qualities were magnified, and he evolved to be a more malevolent and feared, or simply trivial and ineffective, folk character. Along with Bear, Wolf, and other animals from American Indian spirituality, Raven was often chosen for a family or clan’s crest and featured on totem poles in the Pacific Northwest region. When portrayed on masks, which were typically made from red cedar, driftwood, or animal skins, Raven usually required a mask within a mask to represent his ability to shape-shift into a human form. Raven has also featured prominently in other art forms, dance, and music.” ref
“In the songwriting of the Yukaghirs, there are onomatopoeia of animals and birds, if they are discussed in the song. Such onomatopoeia (sounding more symbolic than naturalistic) is by no means connected with the commercial interest; they can be designated as a representation of a foreign language, although their origin is clearly magical (Ignatieva, 2005: 94). In some cases, they are ritualistic (for example, the raven’s note associated with the hunt for a bear, as among the Evenks or Sakha people).” ref
“The Yukaghir are one of the oldest peoples in North-Eastern Asia and have unique domesticated animals like reindeer and cows. Yukaghirs practice shamanism. The dominant cults are ancestral spirits, the spirits of Fire, Sun (Pugu), Hunting, Earth, and Water, which can act as protectors or as enemies of people. The most important is the cult of Pugu, the Sun, who is the highest judge in all disputes.” ref
“Many references to ravens exist in world lore and literature. Most depictions allude to the appearance and behavior of the wide-ranging common raven (Corvus corax). Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven is often associated with loss and ill omen. Yet, its symbolism is complex. As a talking bird, the raven also represents prophecy and insight. Ravens in stories often act as psychopomps, connecting the material world with the world of spirits. French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss proposed a structuralist theory that suggests the raven (like the coyote) obtained mythic status because it was a mediator animal between life and death. As a carrion bird, ravens became associated with the dead and with lost souls. In Swedish folklore, they are the ghosts of murdered people without Christian burials and, in German stories, damned souls.” ref
“The raven god or spirit Kutcha (or Kutkh, (Кутх)) is important in the shamanic tradition of the Koryaks and other indigenous Chukotko-Kamchatkan peoples of the Russian Far East. Kutcha is traditionally revered in various forms by various peoples and appears in many legends: as a key figure in creation, as a fertile ancestor of mankind, as a mighty shaman, and as a trickster. He is a popular subject of the animist stories of the Chukchi people and plays a central role in the mythology of the Koryaks and Itelmens of Kamchatka. Many of the stories regarding Kutkh are similar to those of the Raven among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, indicating a long history of indirect cultural contact between Asian and North American peoples. Two ravens or crows, flying over the warrior’s head in battle, symbolized in Yakut mythology the Ilbis Kyyha and Ohol Uola, two evil spirits of war and violence. Some other gods or spirits in Yakut shamanism, including Uluu Suorun Toyon and Uluutuar Uluu Toyon, are described as “great raven of cloudy sky.” ref
“The raven also has a prominent role in the mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, including the Tsimishians, Haidas, Heiltsuks, Tlingits, Kwakwaka’wakw, Coast Salish, Koyukons, and Inuit. The raven in these indigenous peoples’ mythology is the Creator of the world, but it is also considered a trickster God. For example, in Tlingit culture, there are two different Raven characters that can be identified, although they are not always clearly differentiated. One is the Creator Raven, responsible for bringing the world into being, who is sometimes considered to be the individual who brought light to the darkness. Another raven story from the Puget Sound region describes the “Raven” as having originally lived in the land of spirits (literally bird land) that existed before the world of humans. One day the Raven became so bored with bird land that he flew away, carrying a stone in his beak. When the Raven became tired of carrying the stone and dropped it, the stone fell into the ocean and expanded until it formed the firmament on which humans now live.” ref
“The other is the childish Raven, always selfish, sly, conniving, and hungry.
When the Great Spirit created all things, he kept them separate and stored them in cedar boxes. The Great Spirit gifted these boxes to the animals who existed before humans. When the animals opened the boxes all the things that comprise the world came into being. The boxes held such things as mountains, fire, water, wind, and seeds for all the plants. One such box, which was given to Seagull, contained all the light of the world. Seagull coveted his box and refused to open it, clutching it under his wing. All the people asked Raven to persuade Seagull to open it and release the light. Despite begging, demanding, flattering, and trying to trick him into opening the box, Seagull still refused. Finally, Raven became angry and frustrated, and stuck a thorn in Seagull’s foot. Raven pushed the thorn in deeper until the pain caused Seagull to drop the box. Then out of the box came the sun, moon, and stars that brought light to the world and allowed the first day to begin.” ref
“Bill Reid created the sculpture of The Raven and the First Men, depicting a scene from a Haida myth that unifies the Raven as both the trickster and the creator. According to this myth, the raven, who was both bored and well-fed, found and freed some creatures trapped in a clam. These scared and timid beings were the first men of the world, and they were coaxed out of the clamshell by the raven. Soon, the raven was bored with these creatures and planned to return them to their shell. Instead, the raven decided to search for the female counterparts of these male beings. The raven found some female humans trapped in a chiton, freed them, and was entertained as the two sexes met and began to interact. The raven, always known as a trickster, was responsible for the pairing of humans and felt very protective of them. With the Raven perceived as the creator, many Haida myths and legends often suggest the raven as a provider to mankind.” ref
“One ancient story told on Haida Gwaii tells about how Raven helped to bring the Sun, Moon, Stars, Fresh Water, and Fire to the world:
Long ago, near the beginning of the world, Gray Eagle was the guardian of the Sun, Moon and Stars, of fresh water, and of fire. Gray Eagle hated people so much that he kept these things hidden. People lived in darkness, without fire and without fresh water. Gray Eagle had a beautiful daughter, and Raven fell in love with her. In the beginning, Raven was a snow-white bird, and as a such, he pleased Gray Eagle’s daughter. She invited him to her father’s longhouse. When Raven saw the Sun, Moon and stars, and fresh water hanging on the sides of Eagle’s lodge, he knew what he should do. He watched for his chance to seize them when no one was looking. He stole all of them, and a brand of fire also, and flew out of the longhouse through the smoke hole. As soon as Raven got outside he hung the Sun up in the sky. It made so much light that he was able to fly far out to an island in the middle of the ocean. When the Sun set, he fastened the Moon up in the sky and hung the stars around in different places. By this new light he kept on flying, carrying with him the fresh water and the brand of fire he had stolen. He flew back over the land. When he had reached the right place, he dropped all the water he had stolen. It fell to the ground and there became the source of all the fresh-water streams and lakes in the world. Then Raven flew on, holding the brand of fire in his bill. The smoke from the fire blew back over his white feathers and made them black. When his bill began to burn, he had to drop the firebrand. It struck rocks and hid itself within them. That is why, if you strike two stones together, sparks of fire will drop out. Raven’s feathers never became white again after they were blackened by the smoke from the firebrand. That is why Raven is now a black bird.” ref
“Other notable stories tell of the Raven stealing and releasing the sun, and of the Raven tempting the first humans out of a clamshell. Another story of the Kwakiutl or Kwakwaka’wakw of British Columbia, who exposed boys’ placentas to ravens to encourage future prophetic visions, thereby associating the raven with prophecy, similar to the traditions of Scandinavia. In one legend, Raven transformed himself into a pine needle, which was swallowed by the unmarried daughter of the owner of the box of daylight, who then became pregnant and gave birth to Raven in disguise. The Raven has appeared in the mythologies of many ancient peoples. Some of the more common stories are from those of Greek, Celtic, Norse, Pacific Northwest, and Roman mythology.” ref
Raven in Greco-Roman antiquity
“In Greek mythology, ravens are associated with Apollo, the God of prophecy. They are said to be a symbol of bad luck, and were the gods’ messengers in the mortal world. According to the mythological narration, Apollo sent a white raven, or crow in some versions, to spy on his lover, Coronis. When the raven brought back the news that Coronis had been unfaithful to him, Apollo scorched the raven in his fury, turning the bird’s feathers black. According to Livy, the Roman general Marcus Valerius Corvus (c. 370–270 BCE) had a raven settle on his helmet during a combat with a gigantic Gaul, which distracted the enemy’s attention by flying in his face.” ref
Raven in Germanic cultures and the Viking Age: Raven Banner
“To the Germanic peoples, Odin was often associated with ravens. Examples include depictions of figures often identified as Odin appear flanked with two birds on a 6th-century bracteate and on a 7th-century helmet plate from Vendel, Sweden. In later Norse mythology, Odin is depicted as having two ravens Huginn and Muninn, serving as his eyes and ears – huginn meaning “thought” and muninn meaning “memory”. Each day the ravens fly out from Hliðskjálf and bring Odin news from Midgard. The Old English word for a raven was hræfn; in Old Norse it was hrafn; the word was frequently used in combinations as a kenning for bloodshed and battle. “Hrafn” was also used as a given name, or an element of a name like “Hrafnkell“. The raven was a common device used by the Vikings. Ragnar Lothbrok had a raven banner called Reafan, embroidered with the device of a raven. It was said that if this banner fluttered, Lothbrok would carry the day, but if it hung lifeless, the battle would be lost. King Harald Hardrada also had a raven banner, called Landeythan (land-waster). The bird also appears in the folklore of the Isle of Man, a former Viking colony, and it is used as a symbol on their coat of arms.” ref
“In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn (/ˈhuːɡɪn, ˈmuːnɪn/ or /ˈhjuːɡɪn, ˈmjuːnɪn/; roughly “mind and will” – see § Etymology) are a pair of ravens that serve under the god Odin and fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. The names of the ravens are sometimes anglicized as Hugin and Munin, the same spelling as used in modern Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Huginn and Muninn’s role as Odin’s messengers has been linked to shamanic practices, the Norse raven banner, general raven symbolism among the Germanic peoples, and the Norse concepts of the fylgja and the hamingja.” ref
“In the Poetic Edda, a disguised Odin expresses that he fears the ravens may not return from their daily flights. The Prose Edda explains that Odin is referred to as Hrafnaguð (O.N.: [ˈhrɑvnɑˌɡuð]; “raven-god”) due to his association with Huginn and Muninn. In the Prose Edda and the Third Grammatical Treatise, the two ravens are described as perching on Odin’s shoulders. Heimskringla details that Odin gave Huginn and Muninn the ability to speak. In the Poetic Edda poem Grímnismál, the god Odin (disguised as Grímnir) provides the young Agnarr with information about Odin’s companions. He tells the prince about Odin’s wolves Geri and Freki, and, in the next stanza of the poem, states that Huginn and Muninn fly daily across the entire world, Midgard.” ref
“Scholars have linked Odin’s relation to Huginn and Muninn to shamanic practice. John Lindow relates Odin’s ability to send his “thought” (Huginn) and “mind” (Muninn) to the trance-state journey of shamans. Odin sends Huginn and Muninn out at dawn, and the birds fly all over the world before returning at dinner-time. two ravens named Huginn and Muninn sit on Odin’s shoulders. The ravens tell Odin everything they see and hear. Odin sends Huginn and Muninn out at dawn, and the birds fly all over the world before returning at dinner-time. As a result, Odin is kept informed of many events. High adds that it is from this association that Odin is referred to as “raven-god.” ref
“Migration Period (5th and 6th centuries CE) gold bracteates (types A, B, and C) feature a depiction of a human figure above a horse, holding a spear and flanked by one or more, often two, birds. The presence of the birds has led to the iconographic identification of the human figure as the god Odin, flanked by Huginn and Muninn. Like Snorri’s Prose Edda description of the ravens, a bird is sometimes depicted at the ear of the human, or at the ear of the horse. Bracteates have been found in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and, in smaller numbers, England and areas south of Denmark. Austrian Germanist Rudolf Simek states that these bracteates may depict Odin and his ravens healing a horse and may indicate that the birds were originally not simply his battlefield companions but also “Odin’s helpers in his veterinary function.” ref
“Simek connects Huginn and Muninn with wider raven symbolism in the Germanic world, including the raven banner (described in English chronicles and Scandinavian sagas), a banner which was woven in a method that allowed it, when fluttering in the wind, to appear as if the raven depicted upon it was beating its wings. Anthony Winterbourne connects Huginn and Muninn to the Norse concepts of the fylgja, a concept with three characteristics: shape-shifting abilities, good fortune, and the guardian spirit; and to the hamingja, the ghostly double of a person that may appear in the form of an animal. Winterbourne states that “The shaman’s journey through the different parts of the cosmos is symbolized by the hamingja concept of the shape-shifting soul, and gains another symbolic dimension for the Norse soul in the account of Oðin’s ravens, Huginn and Muninn.” ref
“In Irish mythology, ravens are associated with warfare and the battleground in the figures of Badb and Morrígan. The goddess Morrígan alighted on the hero Cú Chulainn‘s shoulder in the form of a raven after his death. Ravens are prominent in early Welsh mythology, with the Medieval Welsh poem Y Gododdin repeatedly associating ravens with battles, bravery, and death. The poem refers to the battlefield as the “ravens’ feast”, with descriptions of the ravens eating the dead bodies of the fallen warriors. In praising the bravery of a warrior named Gwawrddur, the poem’s author references his affinity with ravens: He fed black ravens on the rampart of a fortress, though he was no Arthur, among the powerful ones in battle, and in the front rank, Gwawrddur was a palisade.” ref
“In the Middle Welsh text The Dream of Rhonabwy, King Arthur prepares for the Battle of Mount Badon with his knight Owain of Rheged, Owain is accompanied by a host of ravens and protests three times to the king that they are being attacked by the king’s servants. Ravens are prominent throughout medieval Welsh texts, and several characters in Welsh mythology have names associated with corvids and ravens. Brân the Blessed and his sister, Branwen are two of the best known characters from the Mabinogion, both names derive from the Welsh word for raven. According to the Trioedd Ynys Prydein, following Brân’s death he commands his men to cut off his head and carry it to “the White Mount, in London, and bury it there”. This White mount is often associated with Tower Hill and the fortress that is now the Tower of London’s White Tower.” ref
“The Celtic legends around Brân and the tower may be the origin of the still-current practice of keeping ravens at the Tower of London. According to English legend, the Kingdom of England will fall if the ravens of the Tower of London are removed. It had been thought that there had been at least six ravens in residence at the tower for centuries. It was said that Charles II ordered their removal following complaints from John Flamsteed, the Royal Astronomer. However, they were not removed because Charles was then told of the legend. Charles, following the time of the English Civil War, superstition or not, was not prepared to take the chance, and instead had the observatory moved to Greenwich.” ref
Raven myths in the Hebrew Bible and Judaism
“The raven (Hebrew: עורב; Koine Greek: κόραξ) is the first species of bird to be mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and ravens are mentioned on numerous occasions thereafter. In the Book of Genesis, Noah releases a raven from the ark after the great flood to test whether the waters have receded (Gen. 8:6–7). According to the Law of Moses, ravens are forbidden for food (Leviticus 11:15; Deuteronomy 14:14), a fact that may have colored the perception of ravens in later sources. In the Book of Judges, one of the Kings of the Midianites defeated by Gideon is called “Orev” (עורב), which means “Raven”. In the Book of Kings 17:4–6, God commands the ravens to feed the prophet Elijah. The male lover in Song of Songs 5:11 is described as having hair as black as a raven. Ravens are an example of God’s gracious provision for all His creatures in Psalm 147:9 and Job 38:41. (In the New Testament as well, ravens are used by Jesus as an illustration of God’s provision in Luke 12:24.).” ref
“Philo of Alexandria (first century CE), who interpreted the Bible allegorically, stated that Noah’s raven was a symbol of vice, whereas the dove was a symbol of virtue (Questions and Answers on Genesis 2:38). In the Talmud, the raven is described as having been only one of three beings on Noah’s Ark that copulated during the flood and so was punished. The Rabbis believed that the male raven was forced to spit. According to the Icelandic Landnámabók – a story similar to Noah and the Ark – Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson used ravens to guide his ship from the Faroe Islands to Iceland. Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer (chapter 25) explains that the reason the raven Noah released from the ark did not return to him was that the raven was feeding on the corpses of those who drowned in the flood.” ref
Christian Raven myths
“The name of the important Frankish King Guntram means “War Raven”. According to the legend of the fourth-century Iberian Christian martyr Saint Vincent of Saragossa, after St. Vincent was executed, ravens protected his body from being devoured by wild animals, until his followers could recover the body. His body was taken to what is now known as Cape St. Vincent in southern Portugal. A shrine was erected over his grave, which continued to be guarded by flocks of ravens. The Arab geographer Al-Idrisi noted this constant guard by ravens, for which the place was named by him كنيسة الغراب “Kanīsah al-Ghurāb” (Church of the Raven). King Afonso Henriques (1139–1185) had the body of the saint exhumed in 1173 and brought it by ship to Lisbon, still accompanied by the ravens. This transfer of the relics is depicted on the coat of arms of Lisbon.” ref
“A raven is also said to have protected Saint Benedict of Nursia by taking away a loaf of bread poisoned by jealous monks after he blessed it. In the legends about the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, depicting him as sleeping along with his knights in a cave in the Kyffhäuser mountain in Thuringia or the Untersberg in Bavaria, it is told that when the ravens cease to fly around the mountain, he will awake and restore Germany to its ancient greatness. According to the story, the Emperor’s eyes are half-closed in sleep, but now and then, he raises his hand and sends a boy out to see if the ravens have stopped flying.” ref
Raven myths in Islamic culture
In the Qur’an’s version of the story of Cain and Abel, a raven is mentioned as the creature who taught Cain how to bury his murdered brother, in Al-Ma’ida (The Repast) 5:31. {Surah 5:27–31} The story, as presented in the Quran and further postulated in the hadith, states that Cain, having murdered Abel, was bereft of a means of disposing of his brother’s body. While scanning the surroundings for a solution, Cain noticed two ravens, one dead and the other alive. The still-living raven began digging the ground with its beak until a hole had been dug up, in which it buried its dead mate. Witnessing this, Cain discovered his solution, as indirectly revealed by God.” ref
“In Persian sacred literature, a bird acted as the emissary for the diffusion of the Zoroastrian religion among the creatures living in Yima’s enclosure (vara). The bird’s name is given as Karšiptar or Karšift. According to scholarship, its name would mean “black-winged” (from Karši- “black”, cognate to Sanskrit kṛṣṇá and Slavic chjerno; and ptar-, cognate to Greek pterón). The name possibly refers to a raven, since this bird plays the role of divine messenger in several mythologies.” ref
“In the Story of Bhusunda, a chapter of the Yoga Vasistha, a very old sage in the form of a crow, Bhusunda, recalls a succession of epochs in the earth’s history, as described in Hindu cosmology. He survived several destructions, living on a wish-fulfilling tree on Mount Meru. Crows are also considered ancestors in Hinduism, and during Śrāddha the practice of offering food or pinda to crows is still in vogue. The Hindu deity Shani (divine personification of Saturn) is often represented as being mounted on a giant black raven or crow. The crow (sometimes a raven or vulture) is Shani’s Vahana. As a protector of property, Shani is able to repress the thieving tendencies of these birds. Dhumavati, the widow goddess associated with strife and inauspiciousness, is depicted riding a crow or in a horseless chariot bearing an emblem of a crow. The raven is the national bird of Bhutan, and it adorns the royal hat, representing the deity Gonpo Jarodonchen (Mahakala) with Raven’s head; one of the important guardian deities.” ref
Wakashan languages
- Haisla
- Heiltsuk-Oowekyala
- Kwakʼwala
- Nuu-chah-nulth
“As first proposed by Edward Sapir and Leo J. Frachtenberg, and later elaborated by Morris Swadesh, the Wakashan languages were grouped together with Salishan and Chimakuan languages in a “Mosan” macrofamily. This proposed macrofamily is now generally rejected as a genealogical grouping. Structural similarities and shared vocabulary are best explained as the result of continuous intensive contact; the Mosan languages thus represent a sprachbund within the wider Pacific Northwest typological area. In the 1960s, Swadesh also suggested a connection of the Wakashan languages with the Eskimo–Aleut languages. This was picked up and expanded by Holst (2005). Sergei Nikolaev has argued in two papers for a systematic relationship between the Nivkh language of Sakhalin Island and the Amur River basin and the Algic languages, and a secondary relationship between these two together and the Wakashan languages.” ref
Nivkh people
“The Nivkh, or Gilyak (also Nivkhs or Nivkhi, or Gilyaks; ethnonym: Нивхгу, Nʼivxgu (Amur) or Ниғвңгун, Nʼiɣvŋgun (E. Sakhalin) “the people”), are an indigenous ethnic group inhabiting the northern half of Sakhalin Island and the lower Amur River and coast on the adjacent Russian mainland. Historically, they may have inhabited parts of Manchuria. Nivkh were traditionally fishermen, hunters, and dog breeders. They were semi-nomadic, living near the coasts in the summer and wintering inland along streams and rivers to catch salmon. The land the Nivkh inhabit is characterized as taiga forest with cold snow-laden winters and mild summers with sparse tree cover. The Nivkh are believed to be the original inhabitants of the region, and to derive from a proposed Neolithic people that migrated from the Transbaikal region during the Late Pleistocene. The Nivkh practice shamanism, which is important for the winter Bear Festival.” ref
“Less than 5 percent speak their native Nivkh language. Nivkh is considered a language isolate or small family, although it is grouped for convenience with the Paleosiberian languages. Nivkh is divided into four dialects or languages. Nivkh (plural Nivkhgu in the Nivkh language), an endonym, means “person” in the Nivkh language. The origins of the Nivkh are hard to discern from current archaeological research. Their subsistence by fishing and coastal sea-mammal hunting is very similar to the Koryak and Itelmen on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The rigging of dog-sledges is also similar to these Chukotko-Kamchatkan groups. Spiritual beliefs are similar to those of the Northwest Coast Indians of North America, whose ancestors migrated from this area. The Nivkh are physically and genetically different from the surrounding peoples, and scholars believe they are the Indigenous inhabitants of the area.” ref
“The current archaeological model suggests that a sub-Arctic microlithic culture originating from the Transbaikal region migrated across Siberia and populated the Amur and Sakhalin region during the Late Pleistocene, or perhaps earlier. Scientists believe that people of this culture were the first to migrate eastward into the Americas. The microlithic culture was technologically adept in the harsh climate of Siberia during the last ice age. After the ice receded, Tungusic peoples from the south pressed into the warmer northern areas, soon dominating the settled peoples. The Nivkh are considered the last surviving ethnic group able to adapt to the warmer climate and not be assimilated or squeezed out by the newcomers, hence the Nivkh isolate language.” ref
“The earliest archeological radiocarbon dating for Northern Sakhalin as of 2004 is the Neolithic Age Imchin Site 2, dated to 4950–4570 BCE near the Tym’ River estuary on the west coast. Michael Fortescue suggests that Nivkh might be related to the Mosan languages of North America (however, Mosan is generally considered a Sprachbund rather than a language family). Fortescue also presents evidence that Nivkh is related to the Chukotko-Kamchatkans, forming a Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric family, though the evidence was judged to be “insufficient” by Glottolog. More recently, Sergei Nikolaev argued in two papers for a systematic relationship between Nivkh and the Algic languages of North America and a more distant relationship between these two together and the Wakashan languages of coastal British Columbia.” ref
“The Sakhalin Nivkhs populated the island during the Late Pleistocene period, when the island was connected to the Continent of Asia via the exposed Strait of Tartary. When the ice age receded, the oceans rose and the Nivkh were split into two groups. It is suggested that the Nivkh people were present in a wide area of Northeast Asia and influenced other people and their cultures. Nivkhs may be related to the Susuya, Okhotsk, and Tobinitai culture that reached Hokkaido and met the Satsumon culture. Several historians suggest that the Nivkh were present in the kingdom of Goguryeo. There are indications that the ancestors of the Nivkh may have played a much more prominent role in pre- and protohistorical Manchuria. Nivkh lands extended along the northern coast of Manchuria from the Russian fortress at Tugur Bay eastward to the mouth of the Amur River at Nikolayevsk, then south through the Strait of Tartary as far as De Castries Bay. Formerly their territories had extended westwards at least as far as the Uda river and the Shantar Islands until pushed out by the Manchus and, later, the Russians.” ref
“The Nivkh were semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers with summer and winter settlements. Nivkh villages consisted of three to four households shared by several families with larger villages rare, and mostly located on the Amur estuary. Households were shared for reasons of community and survival during the harsh cold winters. Villages would last for several decades but were susceptible to floods and sometimes vanished. Often households contained families that were not related. The village was usually composed of people from two to eight different clans, four being standard. In the late fall, able-bodied Nivkh men would leave the villages to hunt for game in the surrounding hunting grounds whereas women would gather foods from the forests. Nivkh would move to winter settlements near rivers to survive the harsh snows and catch salmon spawning (see list of Nivkh settlements). The Nivkh were very hospitable, such that the Nanai located upstream on the Amur when faced with hard times would often visit or stay in Nivkh villages.” ref
“Nivkh clans (khal) were a group of people united by marriage ties, a common derived deity, arranging marriages, and responsible for group dispute resolution. The clan is divided into three exogamous sub-clans. A clan would cooperate with other members on hunts and fishing when away from the village. A Nivkh clan believed they had “one (common) akhmalk or imgi, one fire, one mountain man, one bear, one devil, one tkhusind (ransom, or clan penalty), and one sin.” ref
“Marriage tended to be exogamic, unlike many paleo-Siberian groups. Although within the clan, marriage is endogamic, while sub-clans are exogamic. They have a triangulated system of marital exchange based on a tri-clan phratry or alliance group (pandf), that according to Lev Sternberg was very similar to the Punaluan marriage. Any Nivkhi men have sexual access to women their own generation in the wife-giving lineage and vice-versa. Nivkh marriage customs were very complicated and controlled by the clan. Cross-cousin marriage seems to be the original custom with the clan, a latter necessity when the clan was unable to marry individuals without breaking taboo. The bride price was probably introduced by the Neo-Siberians. The dowry was shared by the clan. The number of men generally exceeded the number of women. It was hard to gain wives, as they were few and expensive. This led to the wealthier men having more than one wife and poor men being unable to obtain wives.” ref
“Nivkh’s traditional religion was based on animist beliefs, especially via shamanism, before colonial Russians made efforts to convert the population to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Nivkh animists believe the island of Sakhalin is a giant beast lying on its belly with the trees of the island as its hair. When the beast is upset, it awakens and trembles the earth causing earthquakes. Nivkh have a pantheon of vaguely defined gods (yz, yzng) that presided over the mountains, rivers, seas, and sky. Nivkhs’ have extensive folklore, songs, and mythos of how humans and the universe were created, and of how fantastic heroes, spirits and beasts battled with each other in ancient times. Some Nivkhs have converted to Russian Orthodoxy or other religions, though many still practice traditional beliefs. Fire is especially venerated. It is the symbol of the unity of the clan. Fire is considered a deity of their ancestors, protecting them from evil spirits and guarding their clan from harm. An open flame would be “fed” a leaf of tobacco, spices, or a tipple of vodka in order to please the spirits for protection. Nivkhs would also frequently offer items to the deities by ‘feeding’. The sea would be “fed” an item of importance in order that the sea god protects the travellers.” ref
“Shamans’ (ch’am) main role was in diagnosing and curing disease for the Nivkh. The rare shamans typically wore an elaborate coats with belts often made of metal. Remedies composed of plant and sometimes animal matter were employed to cure sickness. Talismans were used or offered to patients to prevent sickness. Shamans additionally functioned as a conduit to combat and ward off evil spirits that cause death. A shaman’s services were usually compensated with goods, quarters, and food.” ref
“Nivkh Shamans also presided over the Bear Festival, a traditional holiday celebrated between January and February depending on the clan. Bears were captured and raised in a corral for several years by local women, who treated the bear like a child. The bear was considered a sacred earthly manifestation of Nivkh ancestors and the gods in bear form (see Bear worship). During the festival, the bear would be dressed in a specially-made ceremonial costume. It would be offered a banquet to take back to the realm of gods to show benevolence upon the clans. After the banquet, the bear would be sacrificed and eaten in an elaborate religious ceremony. Dogs were often sacrificed as well.” ref
“The bear’s spirit returned to the gods of the mountain ‘happy’ and would then reward the Nivkh with bountiful forests. The festival typically would be arranged by relatives to honour the death of a kinsman. Generally, the Bear Festival was an inter-clan ceremony where a clan of wife-takers restored ties with a clan of wife-givers upon the broken link of the kinsman’s death. The Bear Festival was suppressed during Soviet occupation though the festival has had a modest revival since the decline of Soviet Union, albeit as a cultural instead of religious ceremony. A very similar ceremony, Iomante, is practiced by the Ainu people of Japan.” ref
“Lell et al. (2002) tested a sample of seventeen Nivkh males and found that six of them (35%) belonged to Haplogroup C-M48, six of them (35%) belonged to haplogroup P-M45 (xQ-M3, R-M17), two of them (12%) belonged to haplogroup C-M130 (xM48), two of them (12%) belonged to haplogroup K-M9 (xO-M119, O-M122, N-Tat, P-M45), and one of them (6%) belonged to haplogroup O-M119. Tajima et al. (2004) tested a sample of twenty-one Nivkh males and found that eight of them (38%) belonged to haplogroup C-M217, a haplogroup which is also common among Koryaks, Itelmens, Yukaghirs, Tungusic peoples, and Mongols; six (29%) belonged to haplogroup K-M9 (xO-M122, O-M119, P-P27), four of them (19%) belonged to haplogroup P-P27 (xR-SRY10831.2), two of them (9.5%) belonged to R-SRY10831.2, and one of them (4.8%) belonged to Haplogroup BT-SRY10831.1 (xC-RPS4Y711, DE-YAP, K-M9).” ref
“According to the abstract for a doctoral dissertation by Vladimir Nikolaevich Kharkov, a sample of 52 Nivkhs from Sakhalin Oblast contained the following Y-DNA haplogroups: 71% (37/52) C-M217 (xC-M77/M86, C-M407), 7.7% (4/52) O-M324 (xO-M134), 7.7% (4/52) Q-M242 (xQ-M346), 5.8% (3/52) D-M174, 3.8% (2/52) O-M175 (xO-P31, O-M122), 1.9% (1/52) O-P31, and 1.9% (1/52) N-M46/M178. Kharkov et al. (2024) examined the Y-chromosome haplogroups of 37 Nivkh males in the Okhinsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, who were estimated to have no paternal admixture with other ethnic groups. The results showed that 43.2% (16/37) belonged to haplogroup C2a1a2b-B90, 32.4% (12/37) to C2a1a1b1a-F13958, 10.8% (4/37) to C2a1-ACT1942, 8.1% (3/37) to Q1a1a1-M120, and 5.4% (2/37) to O2a1b1a2a-F238.” ref
Nivkh mythology
“The subject matter of Nivkh tales is quite characteristic: myths about the moon and the sun, tales about finding good luck and relationships with the other world. Despite the stories about battles with forest, mountain, taiga, underground peoples, in general the heroic component in mythology is absent. In addition to tylgund, there are also nastund – an improvisational myth, ker-aind – a short epic tale, and tales about animals. One of the legends recorded by Piłsudski contains a story about a thing known in various mythologies as vagina dentata – a vagina with teeth.” ref
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1. Kebaran culture 23,022-16,522 Years Ago, 2. Kortik Tepe 12,422-11,722 Years Ago, 3. Jerf el-Ahmar 11,222 -10,722 Years Ago, 4. Gobekli Tepe 11,152-9,392 Years Ago, 5. Tell Al-‘abrUbaid and Uruk Periods, 6. Nevali Cori 10,422 -10,122 Years Ago, 7. Catal Hoyuk 9,522-7,722 Years Ago
Sifting through the relation of Bird spirits/deities of the sky (20,000 to 5,000 years ago)
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Sky Burials: Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, and Paganism
“In archaeology and anthropology, the term excarnation (also known as defleshing) refers to the practice of removing the flesh and organs of the dead before burial, leaving only the bones. Excarnation may be precipitated through natural means, involving leaving a body exposed for animals to scavenge, or it may be purposefully undertaken by butchering the corpse by hand. Practices making use of natural processes for excarnation are the Tibetan sky burial, Comanche platform burials, and traditional Zoroastrian funerals (see Tower of Silence). Some Native American groups in the southeastern portion of North America practiced deliberate excarnation in protohistoric times. Archaeologists believe that in this practice, people typically left the body exposed on a woven litter or altar.” ref
Ancient Headless Corpses Were Defleshed By Griffon Vultures
Sky burial ( Animal Worship mixed with Ancestor Worship) is a funeral practice where a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop, elevated ground, tree, or constructed perch to decompose while be eaten by scavenging animals, especially birds. This Animal Worship (or Zoolatry) rituals may go back to the Neanderthals who seem to Sacralize birds starting around 130,000 years ago in Croatia with eagle talon jewelry and oldest confirmed burial. Or possible (Aurignacian) “Bird Worship” at Hohle Fels cave, Germany, early totemism and small bird figurine at around 33,000 years old, which had been cited as evidence of shamanism.
As well as possible ‘Bird Worship’ (in the Pavlovian culture/Gravettian culture) part of Early Shamanism at Dolní Věstonice (Czech Republic) from around 31,000-25,000 years ago, which held the “first shaman burial.” The shamanistic Mal’ta–Buret’ culture of Siberia, dating to 24,000-15,000 years ago, who connect to the indigenous peoples of the Americas show Bird Worship. The Magdalenian cultures in western Europe, dating from around 17,000-12,000 years ago have a famous artistic mural with a bird that I think could relate to reincarnation and at least bird symbolism. Likewise, there is evidence of possible ‘Bird Worship’ at Göbekli Tepe (Turkey), dated to around 13,000/11,600-9,370 Years ago with “first human-made temple” and at Çatalhöyük (Turkey), dated to around 9,500-7,700 Years ago with “first religious designed city” both with seeming ancestor, animal, and possible goddess worship.
The Tibetan sky-burials appear to have evolved from ancient practices of defleshing corpses as discovered in archeological finds in the region. These practices most likely came out of practical considerations, but they could also be related to more ceremonial practices similar to the suspected sky burial evidence found at Göbekli Tepe (11,500 years ago) and Stonehenge (4,500 years ago). ref
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Earth Diver Mythology and Religious Migrations into the Americas from Siberia:
1. Early Shamanism (Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site, 32,000 years ago and pre-Ancient North Eurasian/Mal’ta–Buret’ culture, 24,000 years ago) No Raeth Diver Myth and no Great Spirit
“The Earth-Diver myth has gone through 3 evolutionary stages: MNP-0, MNP-1, and MNP-2.”
2. Evolved Shamanism mixed with ideas from European totemism-shamanism, but no paganism. Earth Diver Mythology (MNP-0) with a great spirit (limited to “great mystery”). This Earth Diver myth can have any creature (and any number of creatures) become the demiurge’s helper as long as the least likely creature succeeds.
3. Early Paganistic-Shamanism, influenced by the early paganism of the Middle East. Sky god and goddess are now involved. Earth Diver Mythology (MNP-1) with a great spirit (sky deity-like). This Earth Diver myth has a plot that is now crystallized around a pair of waterfowl in Siberia and Western North America, as well as a pair of animals in Eastern North America.
4. Evolved Paganistic-Shamanism, influenced by the evolved paganism of the Middle East. Sky god and goddess are now involved. Earth Diver Mythology (MNP-2) with a great spirit (now a High-God/Supreme-God). This Earth Diver myth now only has one of the creatures dropped off, and the demiurge used the help of only one helper. The “cladistics” of the myth is, therefore, relatively simple: the dynamic and variable ancestral forms crystallize into progressively fewer characters.
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Paleo-Siberian languages
1. Chukotko-Kamchatkan language family (Proposals have been made for links with Eskimo–Aleut, either alone or in the context of a wider grouping. Murray Gell-Mann, Ilia Peiros, and Georgiy Starostin group Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages and Nivkh with Almosan. Algonquian–Wakashan “also Almosan, Algonkian–Mosan, Algonkin–Wakashan” is a hypothetical language family. Sergei Nikolaev argued in two papers for a systematic relationship between the Nivkh language of Sakhalin and the Amur basin and the Algic languages. He also proposed a secondary relationship between these two together and the Wakashan languages.)
2. Nivkh languages (Many words in the Nivkh languages bear a certain resemblance to words of similar meaning in other Paleosiberian languages, Ainu, Korean, or Tungusic languages. Michael Fortescue suggested in 1998 that Nivkh might be related to the Mosan languages of North America. Lexical similarities among Nivkh, Mongolic, and Tungusic are likely due to lexical borrowings.)
3. Yeniseian languages (part of the proposed Dene–Yeniseian language family, Edward Vajda’s Dene–Yeniseian proposal suggested that the possibility of a relationship between Sino-Tibetan and Na-Dene or Yeniseian might warrant serious investigation and Yeniseian is thought to have contributed many ubiquitous loanwords to Turkic and Mongolic vocabulary, such as Khan “refering to a king”, Tarqan “ancient Central Asian title used by various Turkic, Hungarian, Mongolic, as well as Iranian peoples”, and the word for ‘god’, Tengri. The Sino-Caucasian hypothesis has been expanded by others to “Dene–Caucasian” to include the Na-Dene languages of North America, Burushaski, Basque, and, occasionally, Etruscan.)
4. Yukaghir languages (Michael Fortescue argued that Yukaghir is related to the Eskimo-Aleut languages along with Uralic languages, forming the Uralo-Siberian language family.)
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Paleo-Siberian languages
“On the basis of morphological, typological, and lexical evidence, Michael Fortescue suggests that Chukotko-Kamchatkan and Nivkh (Amuric) are related, forming a larger Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric language family. Fortescue does not consider Yeniseian and Yukaghir to be genetically related to Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric. Four small language families and isolates are usually considered to be Paleo-Siberian languages:
- The Chukotko-Kamchatkan family, sometimes known as Luoravetlan, includes Chukchi and its close relatives, Koryak, Alutor and Kerek. Itelmen, also known as Kamchadal, is also distantly related. Chukchi, Koryak and Alutor are spoken in easternmost Siberia by communities numbering in the thousands (Chukchi) or hundreds (Koryak and Alutor). Kerek is extinct, and Itelmen is now spoken by fewer than 5 people, mostly elderly, on the west coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
- Nivkh (Gilyak, Amuric) consists of two or three languages spoken in the lower Amur basin and on the northern half of Sakhalin island. It has a recent modern literature.
- The Yeniseian languages were a small family formerly spoken on the middle Yenisei River and its tributaries, but are now represented only by Ket, spoken in the Turukhansk district of Krasnoyarsk Krai by no more than 200 people.
- Yukaghir is spoken in two mutually unintelligible varieties in the lower Kolyma and Indigirka valleys. Other languages, including Chuvan, spoken further inland and further east, are now extinct. Yukaghir is held by some to be related to the Uralic languages.” ref
Haplogroup Q Y-DNA
“Q is the predominant Y-DNA haplogroup among Native Americans, the Swati tribe, and several peoples of Central Asia and Northern Siberia. Subclades of Q-M346 (Q1b, as of 2019) were the predominant Y-DNA lineages among pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of the Americas. These include, in particular, subclades of Q-M3 (Q1b1a1a) and Q-Z780 (Q1b1a2). Most were descendants of the major founding groups who migrated from Asia into the Americas by crossing the Bering Strait. Subclades of Q1b (M346) other than Q1b1a1a (M3) and Q1b1a2 (Z780) are virtually restricted to the Eurasian continent.” ref
“Among Native Americans from North America, two Q-lineages outside Q1b/Q-M346 have also been found. These are Q-P89.1 (under Q1, a.k.a. Q-L472/MEH2) and Q-NWT01 (under Q-F746, a.k.a. Q1a1). These may have not been among the initial migrants from Beringia, but from later arrivals who traveled, using boats, along the shoreline of East Asia and then into North America. It is unclear whether the current frequency of Q-M242 lineages represents their frequency at the time of immigration or is the result of the shifts in a small founder population over time. Regardless, Q-M242 came to dominate the paternal lineages in the Americas.” ref
“In the indigenous people of North America, Q-M242 is found in Na-Dené speakers at an average rate of 68%. The highest frequency is 92.3% in Navajo, followed by 78.1% in Apache, 87% in SC Apache, and about 80% in North American Eskimo (Inuit, Yupik)–Aleut populations. (Q-M3 occupies 46% among Q in North America). On the other hand, a 4000-year-old Saqqaq individual belonging to Q1a-MEH2* has been found in Greenland. Surprisingly, he turned out to be genetically more closely related to Far East Siberians such as Koryaks and Chukchi people rather than Native Americans. Today, the frequency of Q runs at 53.7% (122/227: 70 Q-NWT01, 52 Q-M3) in Greenland, showing the highest in east Sermersooq at 82% and the lowest in Qeqqata at 30%.” ref
“Haplogroup Q-M242 has been found in approximately 94% of Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and South America. The frequencies of Q among the whole male population of each country reach as follows:
- 61% in Bolivia.
- 51% in Guatemala,
- 40.1% (159/397) to 50% in Peru
- 37.6% in Ecuador,
- 37.3% (181/485) in Mexico (30.8% (203/659) among the specifically Mestizo segment)
- 31.2% (50/160) in El Salvador,
- 15.3% (37/242) to 21.8% (89/408) in Panama,
- 16.1% in Colombia,
- 15.2% (25/165) in Nicaragua,
- 9.7% (20/206) in Chile,
- 5.3% (13/246 in 8 provinces in northeastern, central, southern regions) to 23.4% (181/775 in 8 provinces in central-west, central, northwest regions) in Argentina,
- 5% in Costa Rica,
- 3.95% in Brazil, and so on.” ref
“Q-M242 originated in Asia (Altai region), and is widely distributed across it. Q-M242 is found in Russia, Siberia (Kets, Selkups, Siberian Tatars, Siberian Yupik people, Nivkhs, Chukchi people, Yukaghirs, Tuvans, Altai people, Koryaks, etc.), Mongolia, China, Uyghurs, Tibet, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and so on. In Siberia, the regions between Altai and Lake Baikal, which are famous for many prehistoric cultures and as the most likely birthplace of haplogroup Q, exhibit high frequencies of Q-M242. In a study (Dulik 2012), Q-M242 (mostly Q-M346 including some Q-M3) has been found in 24.3% (46/189: 45 Q-M346, 1 Q-M25) of all Altaian samples. Among them, Chelkans show the highest frequency at 60.0% (15/25: all Q-M346), followed by Tubalars at 41% (11/27: 1 Q-M25, 10 Q-M346) and Altaians-Kizhi at 17% (20/120).” ref
“In a former study, Q-M242 is found in 4.2% of southern Altaians and 32.0% of northern Altaians with the highest frequency of 63.6% in Kurmach-Baigol (Baygol). The frequency reaches 13.7% (20/146) in the whole samples. In another study, the frequency rises up to 25.8% (23/89: all Q-M346) in Altaians. Based on the results of these studies, the average frequency of Q-M242 in Altaians is about 21%. Tuva, which is located on the east side of Altai Republic and west of Lake Baikal as well as on the north side of Mongolia, shows higher frequency of Q-M242. It is found in 14% ~38.0% (41/108) of Tuvans.” ref
“The highest frequencies of Q-M242 in Eurasia are witnessed in Kets (central Siberia) at 93.8% (45/48) and in Selkups (north Siberia) at 66.4% (87/131). Russian ethnographers believe that their ancient places were farther south, in the area of the Altai and Sayan Mountains (Altai-Sayan region). Their populations are currently small in number, being just under 1,500 and 5,000, respectively. In linguistic anthropology, the Ket language is significant as it is currently the only surviving one in the Yeniseian language family, which has been linked by some scholars to the Native American Na-Dené languages and, more controversially, the language of the Huns. In far eastern Siberia, Q-M242 is found in 35.3% of Nivkhs (Gilyaks) in the lower Amur River, and 33.3% of Chukchi people and 39.2% of Siberian Yupik people in Chukotka (Chukchi Peninsula). It is found in 30.8% of Yukaghirs who live in the basin of the Kolyma River, which is located northwest of Kamchatka. It is also found in 15% (Q1a* 9%, Q-M3 6%) of Koryaks in Kamchatka.” ref
“Q-M120 (M120, M265/N14) – It has been found at low frequency among Han Chinese, Dungans, Nivkhs, Koryaks, Yukaghirs, Vietnamese, Japanese, Tuvans, Kalmyks, Koreans, Mongols in Mongolia, Tibetans, and Hmong Daw in Laos. It has also been reported in Bhutanese, Hazara, Bruneian Murut, Gujar, Baloch, Georgian, and Peruvian populations. Q-M3 (M3) – Common in indigenous peoples of the Americas . Q-M19 (M19) – Found among some indigenous peoples of South America, such as the Ticuna and the Wayuu. Q-M194 (M194) – In South America. Q-M199 (M199, P106, P292) – In South America.” ref
“Q-M378 (M378) – It is widely distributed in Europe, South Asia, West and East Asia. It is found among samples of Hazaras and Sindhis. It is also found in the Mongols, the Japanese people, and the Uyghurs of North-Western China in two separate groups. The Q-M378 subclade is a branch to which Q-M242 men in some European Jewish Diaspora populations belong. Its subbranch Q-L245’s subclades Q-Y2200 and Q-YP1035 are found in Ashkenazi Jews. Some Sephardic Jews carry other subclades of Q-L245, including Q-BZ3900, Q-YP745, and Q-YP1237. Q-M378 samples have also been located in Central America (Panama) and South America (Andean Region).” ref
“Y-DNA Q samples from ancient sites
- South Central Siberia (near Altai)
- Afontova-Gora-2, Yenisei River Bank, Krasnoyarsk (South Central Siberia of Russia), 17,000 years ago: Q1a1-F1215 (mtDNA R)
- North America
- Anzick-1, Clovis culture, western Montana, 12,600 years ago: Q1a2-L54* (not M3, mtDNA D4h3a)
- Kennewick Man, Washington, 8,500 years ago: Q1a2-M3 (mtDNA X2a)
- Altai (West Mongolia)
- Tsagaan Asga and Takhilgat Uzuur-5 Kurgan sites, westernmost Mongolian Altai, 2,900-4,800 years ago: 4 R1a1a1b2-Z93, 3 Q1a2a1-L54, 1 Q-M242, 1 C-M130.
- Greenland
- Saqqaq (Qilakitsoq), Greenland, 4,000 years ago: Q1a-YP1500 (mtDNA D2a1)” ref
China
- “Hengbei site (Peng kingdom cemetery of Western Zhou period), Jiang County, Shanxi, 2,800-3,000 years ago: 9 Q1a1-M120, 2 O2a-M95, 1 N, 4 O3a2-P201, 2 O3, 4 O*
- In another paper, the social status of those human remains of ancient Peng kingdom(倗国) are analyzed. aristocrats: 3 Q1a1 (prostrate 2, supine 1), 2 O3a (supine 2), 1 N (prostrate) / commoners : 8 Q1a1 (prostrate 4, supine 4), 3 O3a (prostrate 1, supine 2), 3 O* (supine 3) / slaves: 3 O3a, 2 O2a, 1 O*
- (cf) Pengbo (倗伯), Monarch of Peng Kingdom is estimated as Q-M120.
- Pengyang County, Ningxia, 2,500 years ago: all 4 Q1a1-M120 (with a lot of animal bones and bronze swords and other weapons, etc.)
- Heigouliang, Xinjiang, 2,200 years ago: 6 Q1a* (not Q1a1-M120, not Q1a1b-M25, not Q1a2-M3), 4 Q1b-M378, 2 Q* (not Q1a, not Q1b: unable to determine subclades):
- In a paper (Lihongjie 2012), the author analyzed the Y-DNAs of the ancient male samples from the 2nd or 1st century BCE cemetery at Heigouliangin Xinjiang – which is also believed to be the site of a summer palace for Xiongnu kings – which is east of the Barkol basin and near the city of Hami. The Y-DNA of 12 men excavated from the site belonged to Q-MEH2 (Q1a) or Q-M378 (Q1b). The Q-M378 men among them were regarded as hosts of the tombs; half of the Q-MEH2 men appeared to be hosts and the other half as sacrificial victims.
- Xiongnu site in Barkol, Xinjiang, all 3 Q-M3
- Three samples from a Xiongnu) site in Barkol, Xinjiang were found to be Q-M3 (Q1a2a1a1). And, as Q-M3 is mostly found in Yeniseians and Native Americans, the authors suggest that the Xiongnu had connections to speakers of the Yeniseian languages. These discoveries have some positive implications on the not as yet clearly verified theory that the Xiongnu were precursors of the Huns.
- Mongolian noble burials in the Yuan dynasty, Shuzhuanglou Site, northernmost Hebei
- China, 700 years ago: all 3 Q (not analysed subclade, the principal occupant Gaodangwang Korguz (高唐王=趙王 阔里吉思)’s mtDNA=D4m2, two others mtDNA=A)
- (cf) Korguz was a son of a princess of Kublai Khan (元 世祖), and was the king of the Ongud He died in 1298 and was reburied in Shuzhuanglou in 1311 by his son. (Do not confuse this man with the Uyghur governor, Korguz, who died in 1242.) The Ongud tribe (汪古部) was a descendant of the Shatuo tribe (沙陀族), which was a tribe of Göktürks (Western Turkic Khaganate) and was prominent in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of China, building three dynasties. His two queens were all princesses of the Yuan dynasty (Kublai Khan’s granddaughters). It was very important for the Yuan dynasty to maintain a marriage alliance with the Ongud tribe, which had been a principal assistant since Genghis Khan‘s period. About 16 princesses of the Yuan dynasty married the kings of the Ongud tribe.” ref
“In Northern Europe, haplogroup Q comprises about 2.5% of males. According to the Swedish Haplogroup Database, 4.1% (27/664) of Swedish males belong to Q-M242. About 2/3 of the samples analyzed subclades in detail belong to Q1a2b-F1161/L527, and about 1/3 are in Q1a2a-L804. In Norway, Q-M242 is found in about 2.6% (~4%) of males, with Q-L804 being more common than Q-F1161/L527. It is observed among 1.6% of males in Denmark, 3% in the Faroe Islands (known to be related to Vikings). In an article (Helgason et al.) on the haplotypes of Icelanders, 7.2% (13/181) of males in Iceland are labelled as R1b-Branch A, but they are actually Q-M242. On the other hand, it is 0.2% in Finland, 4.6% in Latvia, 1.1% in Lithuania, 0.5% in Estonia.” ref
“The ancestors of present-day Native Americans migrated to the Americas from Siberia via the Beringia around 16,000 years ago. Q1a2a1-L54 and its subclade Q1a2a1a1-M3 are the two predominant subclades of haplogroup Q found on both sides of the Bering Strait. Q1a2a1-L54 has spread throughout Northern Asia, the Americas, and Western and Central Europe. An ancient individual of the Clovis culture belonged to Q1a2a1-L54 (xQ1a2a1a1-M3). Q1a2a1a1-M3, one of the most thoroughly studied subclades within haplogroup Q, is frequent both in the Chukotka Peninsula of Siberia (close to Alaska) and the Americas. Previous studies indicated that Q1a2a1a1-M3 migrated from Siberia to the Americas and partially returned to Siberia. The estimated time of Q1a2a1a1-M3 is 13,000-22,000 years ago. Q1a2a1a1a-M19, a subclade of Q1a2a1a1-M3, remained in Southern America and has a similarly diversified pattern with its upstream lineage. The age of Q1a2a1a1a-M19 is approximately 7,000–8,000 years ago.” ref
“The frequencies of haplogroup Q range from 0 to 94% in Eurasia (approximately 5% on average). Haplogroup Q reaches its highest frequencies in Siberia, especially in Kets (90–94%) and Selkups (66–71%), and is rarely seen in Western, Southern and South-eastern Asia. Subclade Q1a1a1-M120 appears almost only in Eastern Asia, and its diversity implies that haplogroup Q has migrated from north to south with the ancestors of current Han Chinese during the Neolithic period. Subclades Q1a1b-M25 and Q1a2-M346 have spread widely in Eurasia. Q1a1b-M25 reaches its highest frequency in Turkmen (34–43%) and shows low frequencies in other Eurasian populations, while Q1a2-M346 appears in Central, Western, and Southern Asia, and most parts of Europe. Haplogroup Q has also appeared in other parts of the world. For instance, an ancient DNA study of a Saqqaq individual in Greenland suggests that haplogroup Q1a-MEH2 was frequent in Siberian and Native American populations.” ref
“A few subclades of haplogroup Q have been identified in the Comoros population in Africa (Q1a2-M346) and the Polynesian islands in Oceania (Q1a2a1a1c-M199). Subclade Q1a1a1-M120 was found specifically in the Han Chinese with a low frequency. Our results suggested that subclade Q1a1a1-M120 had migrated from Mongolia to China during the Neolithic period, and spread over China with the ancestors of Han Chinese. Previous studies showed that Q1a1a1-M120 had migrated from north-western China to the Central Plain as nomads, and merged into the northern Han Chinese farmers at approximately 2,500–3,000 years ago. Therefore, we supposed that the ancient nomads with Q1a1a1-M120 had migrated to south-eastward from north-western China and were assimilated by the Han Chinese farmers.” ref
“Subclade Q1a2a1-L54 was mainly found in Yeniseian (Ket) and Samoyedic (Enets and Selkup) speakers (ESM_1). Genetic evidence showed that Yeniseian and Samoyedic speakers had genetic affinities to northern Altaians with high frequencies of haplogroup Q-M242 (xL54), while southern Altaians had many L54 samples and showed similarities with Turkic-speaking populations. However, Yeniseian and Samoyedic samples in this study belonged to L54, which was different from the results of previous studies (xL54). In view of the time estimates, we postulated that Q1a2a1-L54 had migrated from the southern Altai region and was assimilated into Yeniseian- and Samoyedic-speaking populations during a recent historical period.” ref
“Both Q1a1b-M25 and Q1a2-M346 subclades were frequent in Turkic-speaking populations, and their time estimates were at approximately 3,000-5,000 years ago. Q1a1b-M25 had spread from Central Asia to Western Asia and to Hungary in Central Europe (ESM_1); Q1a2-M346 had migrated from Southern Siberia to most parts of Eurasia and the Comoros Islands of Africa. The results coincided with Turkic nomadic migrations from Southern Siberia and Mongolia to Central and Western Asia, Caucasus, and Eastern Europe. Therefore, we suggested that Q1a1b-M25 and Q1a2-M346 probably migrated with Turkic nomads from Southern Siberia to most parts of Eurasia. A few Q1a1b-M25 and Q1a2-M346 samples in Mongolic-speaking populations probably indicated that Turkic nomads had overlapped with Mongolic-speaking populations when they lived in the present Mongolian territory. An ancient DNA study showed that the Hungarians probably originated from Central Asia–Southern Siberia at approximately 4,000 years ago. Therefore, we proposed that Q1a1b-M25 and Q1a2-M346 had migrated from Central Asia–Southern Siberia to Central Europe at least 4,000 years ago. Three individuals of Africa (the Comoros Islands) that belonged to Q1a2-M346 reaffirmed that Middle Eastern populations had a genetic influence on the Comoros Islands.” ref
“Subclades Q1a2a1a2-L804 and Q1a2b2-F1161 were the downstream of Q1a2-M346, both of which mainly distributed in Western and Northern Europe. Q1a2a1a2-L804 arrived in Western and Northern Europe as early as 5,000-7,000 years ago. Ancient DNA studies showed that first European farmers migrated from Central Europe to Western and Northern Europe between 5,000-7,500 years ago. Therefore, we supposed that Q1a2a1a2-L804 had spread from Central Europe to Western and Northern Europe with European early Neolithic farmers. The time estimate for Q1a2b2-F1161 was one thousand years later than its upstream clade Q1a2-M346, which seemed to be unrelated to the Neolithic transition of Europe. Since Q1a2-M346 spread across Europe at that time, it probably brought Q1a2b2-F1161 to Western and Northern Europe, and even to Western and Southern Asia.” ref
“Subclades Q1b1a-M378 and Q1b1a1-L245 were correlated with the Jewish people, both of which probably represented that some of the Jewish Diaspora populations had expanded into Europe within historical times. As seen in central clusters of Q1b1a-M378 and Q1b1a1-L245 mainly consisted of samples from Central and Eastern Europe. The results reaffirmed that some Jewish Diaspora populations had migrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and finally settled in other parts of Europe. Previous Y-chromosome studies showed that haplogroups J, R, and Q3a1 had certain proportions in Jewish populations and spread over Europe. Subclades Q1b1a-M378 and Q1b1a1-L245 probably spread over Europe with haplogroups J, R, and Q3a1.” ref
“The Q1b1a-M378 samples from Southern Asia might represent the descendants of Ashkenazi Jewish populations because its upstream haplogroup Q-P36 was regarded as minor Ashkenazi Jewish founding lineages in Southern Asia. The study of the human Y-chromosome haplogroup Q in Eurasia revealed a clear pattern of its migration routes during the past 10,000 years, especially in Han Chinese, Yeniseian-, Samoyedic-, Turkic- speaking, and Jewish populations. It is clear that a higher resolution database will be helpful to draw more conclusions on the origins, migrations, and ethno-linguistic affiliations of haplogroup Q.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“Several linguists and geneticists suggest that the Uralic languages are related to various Siberian languages and possibly also some languages of northern Native Americans. A proposed family is named Uralo-Siberian, it includes Uralic, Yukaghir, Eskimo–Aleut (Inuit), possibly Nivkh, and Chukotko-Kamchatkan. Haplogroup Q is found in nearly all Native Americans and nearly all of the Yeniseian Ket people (90%).” ref, ref
You can find some form of Shamanism, among Uralic, Transeurasian, Dené–Yeniseian, Chukotko-Kamchatkan, and Eskaleut languages.
My speculations of shamanism are its dispersals, after 24,000 to 4,000 years ago, seem to center on Lake Baikal and related areas. To me, the hotspot of Shamanism goes from west of Lake Baikal in the “Altai Mountains” also encompassing “Lake Baikal” and includes the “Amur Region/Watershed” east of Lake Baikal as the main location Shamanism seems to have radiated out from.
Uralic languages
“The Uralic languages are a language family. They were originally spoken in Eastern Europe and Asia but originated somewhere in eastern Siberia near Lake Baikal. There are two modern main kinds: the Samoyedic languages and the Finno-Ugric languages. The proto-Uralic languages and the early Uralic people originated somewhere in eastern Siberia or possibly Northeast Asia. They were closely related to other Siberian and East Asian but also Inuit people. Genetic and anthropologic studies show that the early Uralic people were similar to various Siberian and East Asian people (Mongoloids). Several linguists and geneticists suggest that the Uralic languages are related to various Siberian languages and possibly also some languages of northern Native Americans. A proposed family is named Uralo-Siberian. It includes Uralic, Yukaghir, Eskimo–Aleut (Inuit), possibly Nivkh, and Chukotko-Kamchatkan.” ref
List of Uralic languages
Transeurasian (a.k.a. Altaic) Languages
“Altaic (Transeurasian) is a controversial proposed language family that would include the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic language families and possibly also the Japonic and Koreanic languages. The group is named after the Altai mountain range in the center of Asia.” ref
The Altai Mountains are in the related area of southern Siberia, where Lake Baikal is located, and to me, the hotspot is from west of Lake Baikal in the “Altai Mountains” also encompassing “Lake Baikal” and includes the “Amur Region/Watershed” east of Lake Baikal as the main location Shamanism seems to have radiated out from.
“In Robbeets and Johanson (2010), there was a proposal to replace the name “Altaic” with the name “Transeurasian”. While “Altaic” has sometimes included Japonic, Koreanic, and other languages or families, but only on the consideration of particular authors, “Transeurasian” was specifically intended to always include Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Japonic, and Koreanic. Martine Robbeets (2020) argues that early Transeurasian speakers were originally agriculturalists in northeastern China, only becoming pastoralists later on. The original arguments for grouping the “micro-Altaic” languages within a Uralo-Altaic family were based on such shared features as vowel harmony and agglutination. Supporters of the Altaic hypothesis formerly set the date of the Proto-Altaic language at around 4000 BCE, but today at around 5000 or 6000 BCE.” ref
Ural-Altaic/(a.k.a. Transeurasian) Languages
“Ural-Altaic, Uralo-Altaic or Uraltaic is a linguistic convergence zone and discredited language-family proposal uniting the Uralic and the Altaic (in the narrow sense) languages. The “Altaic” hypothesis, as mentioned by Finnish linguist and explorer Matthias Castrén by 1844, included the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic, grouped as “Chudic”, and Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic, grouped as “Tataric”. Subsequently, in the latter half of the 19th century, Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic came to be referred to as Altaic languages, whereas Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic were called Uralic. The similarities between these two families led to their retention in a common grouping, named Ural–Altaic. The “Altaic” hypothesis, as mentioned by Finnish linguist and explorer Matthias Castrén by 1844, included the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic, grouped as “Chudic”, and Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic, grouped as “Tataric”. Subsequently, in the latter half of the 19th century, Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic came to be referred to as Altaic languages, whereas Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic were called Uralic. The similarities between these two families led to their retention in a common grouping, named Ural–Altaic.” ref
“There is general agreement on several typological similarities being widely found among the languages considered under Ural–Altaic:
- head-final and subject–object–verb word order
- in most of the languages, vowel harmony
- morphology that is predominantly agglutinative and suffixing
- zero copula
- non-finite clauses
- lack of grammatical gender
- lack of consonant clusters in word-initial position
- having a separate verb for existential clause which is different from ordinary possession verbs like “to have” ref
“Such similarities do not constitute sufficient evidence of genetic relationship all on their own, as other explanations are possible. Juha Janhunen has argued that although Ural–Altaic is to be rejected as a genealogical relationship, it remains a viable concept as a well-defined language area, which in his view has formed through the historical interaction and convergence of four core language families (Uralic, Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic), and their influence on the more marginal Korean and Japonic. Contrasting views on the typological situation have been presented by other researchers. Michael Fortescue has connected Uralic instead as a part of an Uralo-Siberian typological area (comprising Uralic, Yukaghir, Chukotko-Kamchatkan, and Eskimo–Aleut), contrasting with a more narrowly defined Altaic typological area; while Anderson has outlined a specifically Siberian language area, including within Uralic only the Ob-Ugric and Samoyedic groups; within Altaic most of the Tungusic family as well as Siberian Turkic and Buryat (Mongolic); as well as Yukaghir, Chukotko-Kamchatkan, Eskimo–Aleut, Nivkh, and Yeniseian.” ref
“Some linguists indeed maintain that Uralic and Altaic are related through a larger family, such as Eurasiatic or Nostratic, within which Uralic and Altaic are no more closely related to each other than either is to any other member of the proposed family, for instance than Uralic or Altaic is to Indo-European (for example Greenberg). To demonstrate the existence of a language family, it is necessary to find cognate words that trace back to a common proto-language. Shared vocabulary alone does not show a relationship, as it may be loaned from one language to another or through the language of a third party. One alleged Ural-Altaic similarity among this data are the Hungarian (három) and Mongolian (ɣurban) numerals for ‘3’. Regardless of a possible common origin or lack thereof, Uralic-Altaic languages can be spoken of as a convergence zone.” ref
“There are shared words between, for example, Turkic and Ugric languages, or Tungusic and Samoyedic languages, which are explainable by borrowing. However, it has been difficult to find Ural–Altaic words shared across all involved language families. Such words should be found in all branches of the Uralic and Altaic trees and should follow regular sound changes from the proto-language to known modern languages, and regular sound changes from Proto-Ural–Altaic to give Proto-Uralic and Proto-Altaic words should be found to demonstrate the existence of a Ural–Altaic vocabulary. Instead, candidates for Ural–Altaic cognate sets can typically be supported by only one of the Altaic subfamilies. In contrast, about 200 Proto-Uralic word roots are known and universally accepted, and for the proto-languages of the Altaic subfamilies and the larger main groups of Uralic, on the order of 1000–2000 words can be recovered.” ref
Dené–Yeniseian Languages
“Dené–Yeniseian is a proposed language family consisting of the Yeniseian languages of central Siberia and the Na-Dené languages of northwestern North America. Reception among experts has been somewhat favorable; thus, Dené–Yeniseian has been called “the first demonstration of a genealogical link between Old World and New World language families that meets the standards of traditional comparative–historical linguistics“, besides the Eskaleut languages spoken in far eastern Siberia and North America. Vajda and others also note that no compelling evidence has been found linking Haida with either Na-Dené or Yeniseian. As for the wider Dené–Caucasian hypothesis, while Vajda did not find the kinds of morphological correspondences with these other families that he did with Yeniseian and Na-Dené, he did not rule out the possibility that such evidence exists, and urges that more work be done.” ref
“The consensus belief that lexical evidence of a genetic relationship becomes virtually undetectable after about 8,000 to 10,000 years of linguistic separation, but suggested that certain sorts of complex morphology may remain stable beyond this time period. Further evidence for Dené–Yeniseian is in Vajda (2013a). In his 2012 presentation, Vajda also addressed non-linguistic evidence, including analyses of Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA haplogroups, which are passed unchanged down the male and female lines, respectively, except for mutations. His most compelling DNA evidence is the Q1 Y-chromosomal haplogroup subclade, which he notes arose c. 15,000 years ago and is found in nearly all Native Americans and nearly all of the Yeniseian Ket people (90%), but almost nowhere else in Eurasia except for the Selkup people (65%), who have intermarried with the Ket people for centuries.” ref
“Using this and other evidence, he proposes a Proto-Dené-Yeniseian homeland located in eastern Siberia around the Amur and Aldan Rivers. These people would have been hunter-gatherers, as are the modern Yeniseians, but unlike, as Vajda incorrectly claims, nearly all other Siberian groups (except for some Paleosiberian peoples located around the Pacific Rim of far eastern Siberia, who appear genetically unrelated to the Yeniseians). Eventually, all descendants in Eurasia were eliminated by the spread of reindeer-breeding pastoralist peoples (e.g. the speakers of the so-called Altaic languages) except for the modern Yeniseians, who were able to survive in swampy refuges far to the west along the Yenisei River because it is too mosquito-infested for reindeer to survive easily. Contrarily, the caribou (the North American reindeer population) were never domesticated, and thus the modern Na-Dené people were not similarly threatened. In fact, reindeer herding spread throughout Siberia rather recently, and there were many other hunter-gatherer peoples in Siberia in modern times.” ref
“Instead of forming a separate family, Starostin believes that both Yeniseian and Na-Dené are part of a much larger grouping called Dene-Caucasian. Starostin states that the two families are related in a large sense, but there is no special relationship between them that would suffice to create a separate family between these two language families. In 2015, linguist Paul Kiparsky endorsed Dené–Yeniseian, saying that “the morphological parallelism and phonological similarities among corresponding affixes is most suggestive, but most compelling evidence for actual relationship comes from those sound correspondences which can be accounted for by independently motivated regular sound changes.” ref
Dené–Caucasian Languages
“Dené–Caucasian is a proposed language family that includes widely-separated language groups spoken in the Northern Hemisphere: Sino-Tibetan languages, Yeniseian languages, Burushaski and North Caucasian languages in Asia; Na-Dené languages in North America; and the Vasconic languages from Europe (including Basque). A narrower connection specifically between North American Na-Dené and Siberian Yeniseian (the Dené–Yeniseian languages hypothesis) was proposed by Edward Vajda in 2008, and has met with some acceptance within the community of professional linguists. The validity of the rest of the family, however, is viewed as doubtful or rejected by nearly all historical linguists. In the 1980s, Sergei Starostin, using strict linguistic methods (proposing regular phonological correspondences, reconstructions, glottochronology, etc.), became the first to put the idea that the Caucasian, Yeniseian, and Sino-Tibetan languages are related on firmer ground. In 1991, Sergei L. Nikolaev added the Na-Dené languages to Starostin’s classification.” ref
“The inclusion of the Na-Dené languages has been somewhat complicated by the ongoing dispute over whether Haida belongs to the family. The proponents of the Dené–Caucasian hypothesis inclined towards supporters of Haida’s membership in Na-Dené, such as Heinz-Jürgen Pinnow or, most recently, John Enrico. Edward J. Vajda, who otherwise rejects the Dené–Caucasian hypothesis, has suggested that Tlingit, Eyak, and the Athabaskan languages are closely related to the Yeniseian languages, but he denies any genetic relationship of the former three to Haida. Vajda’s ideas on the relationship of Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit and Yeniseian have found support independently in the works of various authors, including Heinrich K. Werner or Merritt Ruhlen. DNA analyses have not shown any special connection between the modern Ket population and the modern speakers of the Na-Dené languages.” ref
“John D. Bengtson groups Basque, Caucasian, and Burushaski together in a Macro-Caucasian (earlier Vasco-Caucasian) family (see the section on Macro-Caucasian below). According to him, it is as yet premature to propose other nodes or subgroupings, but he notes that Sumerian seems to share the same number of isoglosses with the (geographically) western branches as with the eastern ones:
-
1. Dené–Caucasian
-
1.1. The Macro-Caucasian family
- 1.1.1. Basque
- 1.1.2. North Caucasian
- 1.1.3. Burushaski
- 1.2. Sumerian
- 1.3. Sino-Tibetan
- 1.4. Yeniseian
- 1.5. Na-Dené” ref
-
“The Dené–Caucasian family tree and approximate divergence dates (estimated by modified glottochronology) proposed by S. A. Starostin and his colleagues from the Tower of Babel project:
-
1. Dené–Caucasian languages [8,700 BCE]
- 1.1. Na-Dené languages (Athabascan–Eyak–Tlingit)
-
1.2. Sino-Vasconic languages [7,900 BCE]
- 1.2.1. Vasconic (see below)
-
1.2.2. Sino-Caucasian languages [6,200 BCE]
- 1.2.2.1. Burushaski
-
1.2.2.2. Caucaso-Sino-Yeniseian [5,900 BCE]
- 1.2.2.2.1. North Caucasian languages
-
1.2.2.2.2. Sino-Yeniseian [5,100 BCE]
- 1.2.2.2.2.1. Yeniseian languages
- 1.2.2.2.2.2. Sino-Tibetan languages” ref
Chukotko-Kamchatkan Languages
“The Chukotko-Kamchatkan or Chukchi–Kamchatkan languages are a language family of extreme northeastern Siberia. Its speakers traditionally were indigenous hunter-gatherers and reindeer-herders. While the family is sometimes grouped typologically and geographically as Paleosiberian, no external genetic relationship has been widely accepted as proven. The most popular such proposals have been for links with Eskimo–Aleut, either alone or in the context of a wider grouping. The Chukotko-Kamchatkan family consists of two distantly related dialect clusters, Chukotkan and Kamchatkan. Chukotkan is considered anywhere from three to five languages, whereas there is only one surviving Kamchatkan language, Itelmen. The relationship of the Chukotkan languages to Itelmen is at best distant, and has been met with only partial acceptance by scholars.” ref
“The Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages are sometimes classified among the Paleosiberian languages, a catch-all term for language groups with no identified relationship to one another that are believed to represent remnants of the language map of Siberia prior to the advances of Turkic and Tungusic. Michael Fortescue (2011) suggests that Chukotko-Kamchatkan and Nivkh (Gilyak, Amuric) are related to each other on the basis of morphological, typological, and lexical evidence. Together, Chukokto-Kamchatkan and Nivkh could form a larger Chukokto-Kamchatkan-Amuric language family. Joseph Greenberg identifies Chukotko-Kamchatkan (which he names Chukotian) as a member of Eurasiatic, a proposed macrofamily that includes Indo-European, Altaic, and Eskimo–Aleut, among others. Greenberg also assigns Nivkh and Yukaghir, sometimes classed as “Paleosiberian” languages, to the Eurasiatic family.” ref
“While the Eurasiatic hypothesis has been well received by Nostraticists and some Indo-Europeanists, it remains very controversial. Part of the reason is that the Eurasiatic hypothesis rests on mass comparison of lexemes, grammatical formatives, and vowel systems (see Greenberg 2000–2002), rather than on the prevailing view that regular sound correspondences that are linked to a wide array of lexemes and grammatical formatives are the only valid means to establish genetic relationship. Murray Gell-Mann, Ilia Peiros, and Georgiy Starostin group Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages and Nivkh with Almosan instead of Eurasiatic. Michael Fortescue, a specialist in Eskimo–Aleut as well as in Chukotko-Kamchatkan, argued for a link between Uralic, Yukaghir, Chukotko-Kamchatkan, and Eskimo–Aleut calling this proposed grouping Uralo-Siberian. Later, he argued for Nivkh as the closest relative of Chukotko-Kamchatkan and suggested interpreting the similarities to Uralo-Siberian through language contact. Michael Fortescue argued that Nivkh and Chukotko-Kamchatkan are related and that their common ancestor might have been spoken 4000 years ago.” ref
“The accepted classification is this:
Eskaleut Languages
“The Eskaleut, Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent, and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of what are now the United States (Alaska); Canada (Inuit Nunangat) including Nunavut, Northwest Territories (principally in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region), northern Quebec (Nunavik), and northern Labrador (Nunatsiavut); Greenland; and the Russian Far East (Chukchi Peninsula). The language family is also known as Eskaleutian, Eskaleutic or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan.” ref
“The Eskaleut language family is divided into two branches: Eskimoan and Aleut. The Aleut branch consists of a single language, Aleut, spoken in the Aleutian Islands and the Pribilof Islands. Aleut is divided into several dialects. The Eskimoan languages are divided into two branches: the Yupik languages, spoken in western and southwestern Alaska and in Chukotka, and the Inuit languages, spoken in northern Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Inuit languages, which cover a huge range of territory, are divided into several varieties. Neighbouring varieties are quite similar, although those at the farthest distances from the centre in the Diomede Islands and East Greenland are quite divergent.” ref
“The proper place of one language, Sirenik, within the Eskimoan family has not been settled. While some linguists list it as a branch of Yupik, others list it as a separate branch of the Eskimoan family, alongside the Yupik and Inuit languages. The Alaska Native Language Center believes that the common ancestral language of the Eskimoan languages and of Aleut divided into the Eskimoan and Aleut branches at least 4,000 years ago. The Eskimoan language family split into the Yupik and Inuit branches around 1,000 years ago. The Eskaleut languages are among the native languages of the Americas. This is a geographical category, not a genealogical one.” ref
“The Eskaleut languages are not demonstrably related to the other language families of North America and are believed to represent a separate, and the last, prehistoric migration of people from Asia. Alexander Vovin (2015) notes that northern Tungusic languages, which are spoken in eastern Siberia and northeastern China, have Eskaleut loanwords that are not found in Southern Tungusic, implying that Eskaleut was once much more widely spoken in eastern Siberia. Vovin (2015) estimates that the Eskaleut loanwords in Northern Tungusic had been borrowed no more than 2,000 years ago, which was when Tungusic was spreading northwards from its homeland in the middle reaches of the Amur River. Vovin (2015) considers the homeland (Urheimat) of Proto-Eskaleut to be in Siberia rather than in Alaska.” ref
“The more credible proposals on the external relations of Eskaleut all concern one or more of the language families of northern Eurasia, such as Chukotko-Kamchatkan just across the Bering Strait. One of the first such proposals, the Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis, was suggested by the pioneering Danish linguist Rasmus Rask in 1818, upon noticing similarities between Greenlandic and Finnish. Perhaps the most fully developed proposal to date is Michael Fortescue‘s Uralo–Siberian hypothesis, published in 1998 which links Eskaleut languages to Yukaghir and the Uralic languages. More recently Joseph Greenberg (2000–2002) suggested grouping Eskaleut with all of the language families of northern Eurasia (Indo-European, Uralic, Altaic, Korean, Japanese, Ainu, Nivkh/Gilayak, and Chukchi–Kamchatkan), with the exception of Yeniseian, in a proposed language family called Eurasiatic. Such proposals are not generally accepted. Criticisms have been made stating that Greenberg’s hypothesis is ahistorical, meaning that it lacks and sacrifices known historical elements of language in favor of external similarities.” ref
“Although the Eurasiatic hypothesis is generally disregarded by linguists, one critique by Stefan Georg and Alexander Vovin stated that they were not willing to disregard the theory immediately although ultimately agreed that Greenberg’s conclusion was dubious. Greenberg explicitly states that his developments were based on the previous macro-comparative work done by Vladislav Illich-Svitych and Bomhard and Kerns. By providing evidence of lexical comparison, Greenberg hoped that it would strengthen his hypothesis. Despite all these efforts, the Eurasiatic language theory was overruled on the basis that mass comparison is not accurate enough an approach. In comparative linguistics, the comparative method bases its validity on highly regular changes, not occasional semantic and phonological similarities, which is what the Eurasiatic hypothesis provides.” ref
“The Chukotko-Kamchatkan or Chukchi–Kamchatkan languages are a language family of extreme northeastern Siberia. Its speakers traditionally were indigenous hunter-gatherers and reindeer-herders. Chukotko-Kamchatkan is endangered. The Kamchatkan branch is moribund, represented only by Western Itelmen. The majority being speakers of Chukchi. While the family is sometimes grouped typologically and geographically as Paleosiberian, no external genetic relationship has been widely accepted as proven. The most popular such proposals have been for links with Eskimo–Aleut, either alone or in the context of a wider grouping.” ref
“The Chukotko-Kamchatkan family consists of two distantly related dialect clusters, Chukotkan and Kamchatkan. Chukotkan is considered anywhere from three to five languages, whereas there is only one surviving Kamchatkan language, Itelmen. The relationship of the Chukotkan languages to Itelmen is at best distant, and has been met with only partial acceptance by scholars. The Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages are sometimes classified among the Paleosiberian languages, a catch-all term for language groups with no identified relationship to one another that are believed to represent remnants of the language map of Siberia prior to the advances of Turkic and Tungusic.” ref
“Joseph Greenberg identifies Chukotko-Kamchatkan (which he names Chukotian) as a member of Eurasiatic, a proposed macrofamily that includes Indo-European, Altaic, and Eskimo–Aleut, among others. Greenberg also assigns Nivkh and Yukaghir, sometimes classed as “Paleosiberian” languages, to the Eurasiatic family. Murray Gell-Mann, Ilia Peiros, and Georgiy Starostin group Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages and Nivkh with Almosan instead of Eurasiatic. Michael Fortescue, a specialist in Eskimo–Aleut as well as in Chukotko-Kamchatkan, argued for a link between Uralic, Yukaghir, Chukotko-Kamchatkan, and Eskimo–Aleut calling this proposed grouping Uralo-Siberian.” ref
“Fortescue instead suggested that Nivkh (Gilyak, Amuric), another Paleo-Siberian language, is related to Chukotko-Kamchatkan on the basis of morphological, typological, and lexical evidence as the closest relative of Chukotko-Kamchatkan and came to prefer an interpretation of the similarities to Uralo-Siberian through language contact. Together, Chukotko-Kamchatkan and Nivkh could form a larger Chukotko-Kamchatkan-Amuric language family, and their common ancestor might have been spoken 4000 years ago.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Postglacial genomes from foragers across Northern Eurasia reveal prehistoric
mobility associated with the spread of the Uralic and Yeniseian languages
Abstract
“The North Eurasian forest and forest-steppe zones have sustained millennia of sociocultural connections among northern peoples. We present genome-wide ancient DNA data for 181 individuals from this region spanning the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age. We find that Early to Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer populations from across the southern forest and forest-steppes of Northern Eurasia can be characterized by a continuous gradient of ancestry that remained stable for millennia, ranging from fully West Eurasian in the Baltic region to fully East Asian in the Transbaikal region. In contrast, cotemporaneous groups in far Northeast Siberia were genetically distinct, retaining high levels of continuity from a population that was the primary source of ancestry for Native Americans. By the mid-Holocene, admixture between this early Northeastern Siberian population and groups from Inland East Asia and the Amur River Basin produced two distinctive populations in eastern Siberia that played an important role in the genetic formation of later people. Ancestry from the first population, Cis-Baikal Late Neolithic-Bronze Age (Cisbaikal_LNBA), is found substantially only among Yeniseian-speaking groups and those known to have admixed with them. Ancestry from the second, Yakutian Late Neolithic-Bronze Age (Yakutia_LNBA), is strongly associated with present-day Uralic speakers. We show how Yakutia_LNBA ancestry spread from an east Siberian origin ~4.5kya, along with subclades of Y-chromosome haplogroup N occurring at high frequencies among present-day Uralic speakers, into Western and Central Siberia in communities associated with Seima-Turbino metallurgy: a suite of advanced bronze casting techniques that spread explosively across an enormous region of Northern Eurasia ~4.0kya. However, the ancestry of the 16 Seima-Turbino-period individuals–the first reported from sites with this metallurgy–was otherwise extraordinarily diverse, with partial descent from Indo-Iranian-speaking pastoralists and multiple hunter-gatherer populations from widely separated regions of Eurasia. Our results provide support for theories suggesting that early Uralic speakers at the beginning of their westward dispersal where involved in the expansion of Seima-Turbino metallurgical traditions, and suggests that both cultural transmission and migration were important in the spread of Seima-Turbino material culture.” ref
“The Yakuts or Sakha (Yakut: саха, saxa; plural: сахалар, saxalar) are a Turkic ethnic group native to North Siberia, primarily the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation. They speak Yakut, which belongs to the Siberian branch of the Turkic languages. Several Altai-Sayan region tribes arrived on the Lena to flee from the Mongols. The subsequent cultural melding that occurred between these incoming migrants eventually created the Yakuts. Many researchers have concluded that the Yakut ethnogenesis was an admixture of Turks migrating from Lake-Baikal and native Yukaghir and Tungusitic peoples residing around the Lena River.” ref
“The Ymyyakhtakh (2200–1300 BCE) are an ancient people of the Lena River. A burial ground was excavated, and anthropologists I.I. Gokhman and L.F. Tomtosova studied the human remains and published their results in 1992. They concluded that some of the Late Neolithic population took part in the formation of the modern Yakuts. The consistency of related artistic embellishments on the traditional clothing of the Buryat, Samoyed, and Yakut led one scholar to conclude they are related. Toponymic data of Yakutia indicates there was once a presence of Paleoasian and Samoyed habitation in the region. Vilyui Tumats reportedly practiced anthropophagy and seen as an “ethnocultural marker” of the Samoyedic peoples.” ref
“The primary Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup for the Yakut is N-M231. While found in around 89% of the general population, in northern Yakutia it is closer to 82%. N-M231 is shared with various other Eastern Siberian populations. The remaining haplogroups are approximately: 4% C-M217 (including subclades C-M48 and C-M407), 3.5% R1a-M17 (including subclade R1a-M458), and 2.1% N-P43, with sporadic instances of I-M253, R1b-M269, J2, and Q.” ref
“According to Adamov, haplogroup N1c1 makes up 94% of the Sakha population. This genetic bottleneck has been dated approximately to 1300 CE ± 200 years ago and speculated to have been caused by high mortality rates in warfare and later relocation to the Middle Lena River. Yakut contains many features which are important for the reconstruction of Proto-Turkic, such as the preservation of long vowels. Despite all the aberrant features of Sakha (i.e. Yakut), it is still considered to belong to Common Turkic (in contrast to Chuvash). A relatively few scholars (W. Radlov and others) expressed the view that Sakha (i.e. Yakut) is not Turkic.” ref
Ancient North Eurasian (ANE)
Ancient Beringian/Ancestral Native American (AB/ANA)
Eastern Hunter-Gatherer (EHG)
Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG)
Western Steppe Herders (WSH)
Scandinavian Hunter-Gatherer (SHG)
Early European Farmers (EEF)
Jōmon people (Ainu people OF Hokkaido Island)
Neolithic Iranian farmers (Iran_N) (Iran Neolithic)
Haplogroup R possible time of origin about 27,000 years in Central Asia, South Asia, or Siberia:
- Mal’ta–Buret’ culture (24,000-15,000 years ago)
- Afontova Gora culture (21,000-12,000 years ago)
- Trialetian culture (16,000–8000 years ago)
- Samara culture (7,000-6,500 years ago)
- Khvalynsk culture (7,000-6,500 years ago)
- Afanasievo culture (5,300-4,500 years ago)
- Yamna/Yamnaya Culture (5,300-4,500 years ago)
- Andronovo culture (4,000–2,900 years ago) ref
“Worldwide distribution of haplogroup Q-M242. The blue star is the original place of haplogroup Q-M242, around Central Asia and Siberia. The brown number one is Russian sample location in the Krasnoyarsk Region. The brown number two is Chinese sample location in Gansu province. The brown number three is Chinese sample location in Zhejiang province. The red arrows are the expansion routes of haplogroup Q-M242. The purple words show the locations of subclades of haplogroup Q used in this study.” ref
“A large minority of people in North Asia, particularly in Siberia, follow the religio-cultural practices of shamanism. Some researchers regard Siberia as the heartland of shamanism. The people of Siberia comprise a variety of ethnic groups, many of whom continue to observe shamanistic practices in modern times. Many classical ethnographers recorded the sources of the idea of “shamanism” among Siberian peoples. Shamanistic practice shows great diversity, even if restricted to Siberia. Shamanism is a religious practice present in various cultures and religions around the world. Shamanism takes on many different forms, which vary greatly by region and culture and are shaped by the distinct histories of its practitioners. Siberia is regarded as the locus classicus of shamanism. The area is inhabited by many different ethnic groups, and many of its peoples observe shamanistic practices, even in modern times. Many classical ethnographic sources of “shamanism” were recorded among Siberian peoples.” ref, ref
- “‘shaman’: saman (Nedigal, Nanay, Ulcha, Orok), sama (Manchu). The variant /šaman/ (i.e., pronounced “shaman”) is Evenk (whence it was borrowed into Russian).
- ‘shaman’: alman, olman, wolmen (Yukagir)
- ‘shaman’: [qam] (Tatar, Shor, Oyrat), [xam] (Tuva, Tofalar)
- The Buryat word for shaman is бөө (böö) [bøː], from early Mongolian böge. Itself borrowed from Proto-Turkic *bögü (“sage, wizard”)
- ‘shaman’: ńajt (Khanty, Mansi), from Proto-Uralic *nojta (c.f. Sámi noaidi)
- ‘shamaness’: [iduɣan] (Mongol), [udaɣan] (Yakut), udagan (Buryat), udugan (Evenki, Lamut), odogan (Nedigal). Related forms found in various Siberian languages include utagan, ubakan, utygan, utügun, iduan, or duana. All these are related to the Mongolian name of Etügen, the hearth goddess, and Etügen Eke ‘Mother Earth’. Maria Czaplicka points out that Siberian languages use words for male shamans from diverse roots, but the words for female shaman are almost all from the same root. She connects this with the theory that women’s practice of shamanism was established earlier than men’s, that “shamans were originally female.” ref
“Uralic languages are proven to form a genealogical unit, a language family. Not all speakers of these languages live in Siberia or have shamanistic religions. The largest populations, the Hungarians and Finns, live outside Siberia and are mostly Christian. Sámi people had kept shamanic practices alive for a long time. They live in Europe, but practiced shamanism until the 18th century. Most others (e.g. Hungarian, Finnic, Mari) have only remnant elements of shamanism. The majority live outside Siberia. Some of them used to live in Siberia, but have migrated to their present locations since then. The original location of the Proto-Uralic peoples (and its extent) is debated. Combined phytogeographical and linguistic considerations (distribution of various tree species and the presence of their names in various Uralic languages) suggest that this area was somewhere between the Kama and Vyatka rivers on the western side of the Ural Mountains.” ref
“Among several Samoyedic peoples shamanism was a living tradition also in modern times, especially at groups living in isolation until recent times (Nganasans). There were distinguished several types of shamans among Nenets, Enets, and Selkup people. (The Nganasan shaman used three different crowns, according to the situation: one for upper world, one for underneath word, one for occasion of childbirth.) Nenets people, Enets people, Nganasan people speak Northern Samoyedic languages. They live in North Siberia (Nenets live also in European parts), they provide classical examples. Selkups are the only ones who speak Southern Samoyedic languages nowadays. They live more to the south, shamanism was in decline also at the beginning of the 20th century, although folklore memories could be recorded even in the 1960s. Other Southern Samoyedic languages were spoken by some peoples living in the Sayan Mountains, but language shift has taken place, making all these languages extinct.” ref
“Some peoples of the Sayan Mountains spoke once Southern Samoyedic languages. Most of them underwent a language shift in the beginning and middle of the 19th century, borrowing the language of neighboring Turkic peoples. The Kamassian language survived longer: 14 old people spoke it yet in 1914. In the late 20th century, some old people had passive or uncertain knowledge of the language, but collecting reliable scientific data was no longer possible. Today Kamassian is regarded as extinct. The shamanism of Samoyedic peoples in the Sayan Mountains survived longer (if we regard Karagas as a Samoyedic people, although such approaches have been refined: the problem of their origin may be more complex). Diószegi Vilmos could record not only folklore memories in the late 1950s, but he managed also to talk personally to (no longer practicing) shamans, record their personal memories, songs, some of their paraphernalia.” ref
“Whether this shamanism is borrowed entirely from neighboring Turkic peoples, or whether it has some ethnic features, maybe remnants of Samoyedic origin, is unresolved. Comparative considerations suggest, that
- Karagas shamanism is affected by Abakan-Turkic and Buryat influence. Among the various Soyot cultures, the central Soyot groups, keeping cattle and horses, show Khalkha Mongol phenomena in their shamanism, the shamanism of Western Soyots, living on the steppe, is similar to that of Altai Turkic peoples. A shaman story narrates contacts between Soyots and Abakan Turkic peoples in a mythical form.
- Karagas and Eastern (reindeer-breeding, mountain-inhabiting) Soyots. have many similarities in their culture and shamanism. It was these two cultures who presented some ethnic features, phenomena lacking among neighboring Turkic peoples. E.g., the structure of their shamanic drum showed such peculiarity: it had two transoms. It was also these two cultures who showed some features, that could be possibly of Samoyedic origin: the shaman’s headdress, dress, and boots has the effigies symbolizing human organs, mostly bones; in the case of headdress, representation of human face. Also, the dress-initiating song of the Karagas shaman Kokuyev contained the expression “my shamanic dress with seven vertebrae”. Hoppál interprets the skeleton-like overlay of the Karagas shaman-dress as symbol of shamanic rebirth, similar remark applies for the skeleton-like iron ornamentation of the (not Samoyedic, but genealogically unclassified, Paleosiberian) Ket “Yeniseian language” shamanic dress, although it may symbolize also the bones of the loon (the helper animal of the shaman). (The theory of Ket origin of the Karagas has already been mentioned above.) The skeleton-like overlay symbolized shamanic rebirth also among some other Siberian cultures.” ref
“Starting from the late 9th century onwards, the ancestors of the Hungarian people migrated from their Proto-Uralic homeland in Siberia to the Pannonian Basin, an area that includes present-day Hungary. Today, shamanism is no longer widely practiced by Hungarians, but elements of shamanism have been preserved in their folklore. Comparative methods reveal that some motifs used in folktales, fragments of songs and folk rhymes retain aspects of the ancient belief system. In an effort to prove that shamanistic remnants existed within Hungarian folklore ethnographer, Diószegi Vilmos, compared ethnographic records of Hungarian and neighboring peoples, and works about various shamanic traditions of some Siberian peoples. Mihály Hoppál continued Diószegi Vilmos’s work comparing shamanic beliefs of speakers of Uralic languages with those of several non-Uralic Siberian peoples. Although Ugrian folklore preserves many traces of shamanism, shamanism itself was a dying practice among the Khanty and Mansi people by the 1930s. Shamanism is still practiced by many indigenous peoples, but, among the modern Ugrians, shamanism is largely practiced by the Khanty.” ref
Tengrism: a Turkic, Yeniseian/Ket, and Mongolic shamanistic religion
“Tengrism (also known as Tengriism, Tengerism, or Tengrianism) is an ethnic Turkic, Yeniseian, Mongolic religion originating in the Eurasian steppes, based on shamanism and animism. It generally involves the titular sky god Tengri, who is not considered a deity in the usual sense but a personification of the universe. According to some scholars, adherents of Tengrism view the purpose of life to be in harmony with the universe. It was the prevailing religion of the Tujue, Xianbei, Bulgars, Xiongnu, Huns, and possibly the Hungarians, as well as the state religion of several medieval states: the First Turkic Khaganate, the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Old Great Bulgaria, the First Bulgarian Empire, Volga Bulgaria, Khazaria, and the Mongol Empire. In the Irk Bitig, a ninth century manuscript on divination, Tengri is mentioned as Türük Tängrisi (God of Turks).” ref
“According to many academics, Tengrism was, and to some extent still is, a predominantly polytheistic religion based on the shamanistic concept of animism, and was first influenced by monotheism during the imperial period, especially by the 12th–13th centuries. Abdulkadir Inan argues that Yakut and Altai shamanism are not entirely equal to the ancient Turkic religion. The term also describes several contemporary Turkic and Mongolic native religious movements and teachings. All modern adherents of “political” Tengrism are monotheists. Tengrism has been advocated for in intellectual circles of the Turkic nations of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan with Kazakhstan) and the Russian federation (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan) since the dissolution of the Soviet Union during the 1990s. Still practiced, it is undergoing an organized revival in Buryatia, Sakha (Yakutia), Khakassia, Tuva and other Turkic nations in Siberia. Altaian Burkhanism and Chuvash Vattisen Yaly are contemporary movements similar to Tengrism. The term tengri (compare with Kami) can refer to the sky deity Tenger Etseg – also Gök Tengri; Sky father, Blue sky – or to other deities.” ref
“While Tengrism includes the worship of personified gods (tngri) such as Ülgen and Kaira, Tengri is considered an “abstract phenomenon”. In Mongolian folk religion, Genghis Khan is considered one of the embodiments, if not the main embodiment, of Tengri’s will. The forms of the name Tengri (Old Turkic: Täŋri) among the ancient and modern Turkic and Mongolic are Tengeri, Tangara, Tangri, Tanri, Tangre, Tegri, Tingir, Tenkri, Tangra, Teri, Ter, and Ture. The name Tengri (“the Sky”) is derived from Old Turkic: Tenk (“daybreak”) or Tan (“dawn”). Meanwhile, Stefan Georg proposed that the Turkic Tengri ultimately originates as a loanword from Proto-Yeniseian *tɨŋgɨr- “high”. Mongolia is sometimes poetically called the “Land of Eternal Blue Sky” (Mönkh Khökh Tengeriin Oron) by its inhabitants. According to some scholars, the name of the important deity Dangun (also Tangol) (God of the Mountains) of the Korean folk religion is related to the Siberian Tengri (“Heaven”), while the bear is a symbol of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major).” ref
“The nature of this religion remains debatable. According to many scholars, it was originally polytheistic, but a monotheistic branch with the sky god Kök-Tengri as the supreme being evolved as a dynastical legitimation. It is at least agreed that Tengrism formed from the diverse folk religions of the local people and may have had diverse branches. It is suggested that Tengrism was a monotheistic religion only at the imperial level in aristocratic circles, and, perhaps, only by the 12th-13th centuries (a late form of development of ancient animistic shamanism in the era of the Mongol empire). According to Jean-Paul Roux, the monotheistic concept evolved later out of a polytheistic system and was not the original form of Tengrism. The monotheistic concept helped to legitimate the rule of the dynasty: “As there is only one God in Heaven, there can only be one ruler on the earth …”. Others point out that Tengri itself was never an Absolute, but only one of many gods of the upper world, the sky deity, of polytheistic shamanism, later known as Tengrism.” ref
“Tengrism differs from contemporary Siberian shamanism in that it was a more organized religion. Additionally, the polities practicing it were not small bands of hunter-gatherers like the Paleosiberians, but a continuous succession of pastoral, semi-sedentarized khanates and empires from the Xiongnu Empire (founded 209 BCE) to the Mongol Empire (13th century). In Mongolia, it survives as a synthesis with Tibetan Buddhism while surviving in purer forms around Lake Khovsgol and Lake Baikal. Unlike Siberian shamanism, which has no written tradition, Tengrism can be identified from Turkic and Mongolic historical texts like the Orkhon inscriptions, Secret History of the Mongols, and Altan Tobchi. However, these texts are more historically oriented and are not strictly religious texts like the scriptures and sutras of sedentary civilizations, which have elaborate doctrines and religious stories. On a scale of complexity, Tengrism lies somewhere between the Proto-Indo-European religion (a pre-state form of pastoral shamanism on the western steppe) and its later form the Vedic religion.” ref
“The chief god Tengri (“Heaven”) is considered strikingly similar to the Indo-European sky god *Dyḗus and the East Asian Tian (Chinese: “Sky; Heaven”). The structure of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion is actually closer to that of the early Turks than to the religion of any people of neolithic European, Near Eastern, or Mediterranean antiquity. The term “shamanism” was first applied by Western anthropologists as outside observers of the ancient religion of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples, as well as those of the neighboring Tungusic and Samoyedic-speaking peoples. Upon observing more religious traditions across the world, some Western anthropologists began to also use the term in a very broad sense. The term was used to describe unrelated magico-religious practices found within the ethnic religions of other parts of Asia, Africa, Australasia, and even completely unrelated parts of the Americas, as they believed these practices to be similar to one another. Tengrism formed from the various Turkic and Mongolic folk religions, which had a diverse number of deities, spirits and gods. Turkic folk religion was based on Animism and similar to various other religious traditions of Siberia, Central Asia, and Northeast Asia. Ancestor worship played an important part in Tengrism.” ref
“Tengrism also played a large role in the religion of Mongol Empires as the primary state spirituality. Genghis Khan and several generations of his followers were Tengrian believers and “Shaman-Kings” until his fifth-generation descendant, Uzbeg Khan, turned to Islam in the 14th century. Old Tengrist prayers have come to us from the Secret History of the Mongols (13th century). The priests-prophets (temujin) received them, according to their faith, from the great deity/spirit Munkh Tenger. Tengrism was probably similar with the folk traditions of the Tungusic peoples, such as the Manchu folk religion. Similarities with Korean shamanism and Chinese Wuism as well as Japanese Shinto are also evident. According to Hungarian archaeological research, the religion of the Magyars (Hungarians) until the end of the 10th century (before Christianity) was a form of Tengrism and Shamanism.” ref
Ket (Yeniseian language) Shamanism
“The traditional culture of Ket people was researched by Matthias Castrén, Vasiliy Ivanovich Anuchin, Kai Donner, Hans Findeisen, Yevgeniya Alekseyevna Alekseyenko. Shamanism was a living practice in the 1930s yet, but by the 1960s almost no authentic shaman could be found. Ket shamanism shared features with those of Turkic and Mongolic peoples. Besides that, there were several types of shamans, differing in function (sacral rites, curing), power, and associated animal (deer, bear). Also among Kets (like at several other Siberian peoples, e.g. Karagas), there are examples of using skeleton symbolics, Hoppál interprets it as a symbol of shamanic rebirth, although it may symbolize also the bones of the loon (the helper animal of the shaman, joining air and underwater world, just like the shaman who traveled both to the sky and the underworld as well). The skeleton-like overlay represented shamanic rebirth also among some other Siberian cultures.” ref
“Turkic peoples spread over large territories, and are far from alike. In some cases, shamanism has been widely amalgamated with Islam, in others with Buddhism, but there are surviving traditions among the Siberian Tatars, Tuvans, and Tofalar. The Altai Turks may be related to neighboring Ugrian, Samoyed, Ket, or Mongols. There may be also ethnographic traces of such past of these nowadays Turkic-speaking peoples of the Altai. For example, some of them have phallic-erotic fertility rites, and that can be compared to similar rites of Ugriansɮ. Among the Tungusic peoples of Siberia, shamanism is also widespread. The Tale of the Nisan Shaman, a famous piece of folklore which describes the resurrection of a rich landowner’s son by a female shaman, is known among various Tungusic peoples including the Manchus, Evenks, and Nanai people. Linguistically, Koryak and Chukchi are close congeners of Yup’il. Koryak shamanism is known.” ref
“Yup’ik groups comprise a huge area stretching from Eastern Siberia through Alaska and Northern Canada (including Labrador Peninsula) to Greenland. Shamanistic practices and beliefs have been recorded at several parts of this vast area crosscutting continental borders. Like Yup’ik cultures themselves, shamanistic practices reveal diversity. Some mosaic-like examples from various cultures: the soul concepts of the various cultures were diverse as well, some groups believed that the young child had to be taken for by guardian names inherited from a recently deceased relative. Among some groups, this belief amounted to a kind of reincarnation. Also, shamanism might include beliefs in soul dualism, where the free-soul of the shaman could fly to celestial or underneath realms, contacting mythological beings, and negotiating with them in order to cease calamities or achieve success in hunt. If their wrath was believed to be caused by taboo breaches, the shaman asked for confessions by members of the community. In most cultures, shamanism could be refused by the candidate: calling could be felt by visions, but generally, becoming a shaman followed conscious considerations.” ref
“Mongolian shamanism (Mongolian: Бөө мөргөл — Böö mörgöl), more broadly called the Mongolian folk religion, or occasionally Tengerism refers to the animistic and shamanic ethnic religion that has been practiced in Mongolia and its surrounding areas (including Buryatia and Inner Mongolia) at least since the age of recorded history. In the earliest known stages it was intricately tied to all other aspects of social life and to the tribal organization of Mongolian society. Along the way, it has become influenced by and mingled with Buddhism. During the socialist years of the twentieth century, it was heavily repressed, but has since made a comeback. Yellow shamanism defines a distinct form of shamanism practiced in Mongolia and Siberia. The term “yellow” in “Yellow Shamanism” is derived from “Yellow Buddhist”; more commonly known as Tibetan Buddhism, this style of Shamanism integrated elements of ritual practice and traditional Buddhist customs.” ref
“The Gelukpa (or Geluk) school of Buddhism, otherwise known as “Yellow Hat,” is one of four major schools (Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya) established by the early 1400s in Tibetan Buddhism. Similar to the other Buddhist schools, Geluk combined the philosophy and cosmology of Mahayana Buddhism and incorporated distinctive qualities from the Vajrayana teachings to develop and cultivate its own traditions. The term Geluk means, “Order of excellence” or “Virtuous order” in the Tibetan language, which reflects the belief in the institution of the Tulku (incarnate lama) unique only to Tibetan Buddhism. Additionally, the color yellow is a significant color in Tibetan Buddhism, as it represents the color closest to daylight and symbolizes the humility Gautama Buddha displayed in choosing a color previously worn by criminals. Another distinctive quality of Tibetan Buddhism are the yellow pandita hats typically worn by monks. The term “yellow shamanism” also serves to distinguish it from a form of shamanism not influenced by Buddhism (according to its adherents), called black shamanism.” ref
“Mongolian shamanism revolves around the worship of the “Tngri” (Ancestor spirits) and devotion to “Father sky” otherwise known as “Tenger” or “Qormusta Tengri” in Mongolian. In the Mongolian folk religion, Genghis Khan is considered one of the embodiments, if not the main embodiment, of the Tenger spirit. The Mausoleum of Genghis Khan in Ordos City, in Inner Mongolia, is an important center of this worship tradition. Mongolian shamanism is an all-encompassing system of belief that includes medicine, religion, a reverence of nature, and ancestor worship. Central to the system are the activities of male and female intercessors between the human world and the spirit world, shamans (böö) and shamanesses (udgan). They are not the only ones to communicate with the spirit world: nobles and clan leaders also perform spiritual functions, as do commoners, although the hierarchy of Mongolian clan-based society is reflected in the manner of worship as well.” ref
“Manchu folk religion or Manchu traditional religion is the ethnic religion practiced by most of the Manchu people, the major Tungusic group in China. It can also be called Manchu shamanism by virtue of the word “shaman” being originally from Tungusic šamán (“man of knowledge”), later applied by Western scholars to similar religious practices in other cultures. It is an animistic and polytheistic religion, believing in several gods and spirits, led by a universal sky god called Abka Enduri (“Sky God” or “God of Heaven”), also referred to as Abka Han (“Sky Khan” or “Khan of Heaven”) and Abka Ama (“Sky Father”), originally Abka Hehe (“Sky Woman”, by extension “Sky Mother”) who is the source of all life and creation. Deities (enduri) enliven every aspect of nature, and the worship of these gods is believed to bring favour, health and prosperity. Many of the deities were originally Manchu ancestors, and people with the same surname are generated by the same god.” ref
“Shamans are persons of unusual ability, strength and sensitivity, capable of perception and prediction of the ways of the gods. They are endowed with the social function to conduct the sacrificial ceremonies and approach the deities asking them intervention or protection. Because of their abilities the shamans are people of great authority and prestige. Usually, every Manchu kin has its own shaman. Study of Manchu religion usually distinguishes two types of ritual, “domestic” and “primitive”, which can be performed in two cultic settings, “imperial” and “common”. The domestic ritual primarily involves the sacrifices for the progenitors of lineages and is the most important, while the primitive ritual involves the sacrifices for zoomorphic gods. The ritual manual of Qianlong was an attempt to adapt all kins’ ritual traditions to the style of the imperial kin’s ritual tradition. This was only partially effective as common cults were preserved and revitalized over time.” ref
“Korean shamanism or Mu-ism (Korean: 무교; Hanja: 巫敎; RR: Mu-gyo) is a religion from Korea. It is also called musok (무속; 巫俗) in Korean. Scholars of religion have classified it as a folk religion. There is no central authority in control of the religion and much diversity exists among practitioners. The musok religion is polytheistic, promoting belief in a range of deities. Both these deities and ancestral spirits are deemed capable of interacting with living humans and causing them problems. Central to the religion are ritual specialists, the majority of them female, called mudang (무당; 巫堂) or mu (무; 巫); in English they have sometimes been called “shamans“, although the accuracy of this term is debated among anthropologists. The mudang assist paying clients in determining the cause of misfortune using divination. Mudang also perform longer rituals called kut, in which the gods and ancestral spirits are given offerings of food and drink and entertained with song and dance. These may take place in a private home or in a shrine, the kuttang, often located on a mountain. There are various sub-types of mudang, whose approach is often informed by regional tradition. The largest type are the mansin or kangsin-mu, historically dominant in northern regions, whose rituals involve them being personally possessed by deities or ancestral spirits. Another type is the sesŭp-mu of eastern and southern regions, whose rituals entail spirit mediumship but not possession.” ref
“Elements of the musok tradition may derive from prehistory. During the Joseon period, Confucian elites suppressed the mudang with taxation and legal restrictions, deeming their rites to be improper. From the late 19th century, modernisers – many of whom were Christian – characterised musok as misin (superstition) and supported its suppression. During the Japanese occupation of the early 20th century, nationalistically-oriented folklorists began promoting the idea that musok represented Korea’s ancient religion and a manifestation of its national culture; an idea later heavily promoted by mudang themselves. In the mid-20th century, persecution of mudang continued under the Marxist government of North Korea and through the New Community Movement in South Korea. More positive appraisal of the mudang occurred in South Korea from the late 1970s onward, especially as practitioners were associated with the minjung pro-democracy movement and came to be regarded as a source of Korean cultural identity. Musok is primarily found in South Korea, where there are around 200,000 mudang, although practitioners are also found abroad. While Korean attitudes to religion have historically been fairly inclusive, allowing for syncretism between musok and Buddhism, the mudang have nevertheless long been marginalized. Disapproval of mudang, often regarded as charlatans, remains widespread in South Korea, especially among Christians. Musok has also influenced some Korean new religions, such as Cheondoism and Jeungsanism.” ref
“Chinese shamanism, alternatively called Wuism (Chinese: 巫教; pinyin: wū jiào; lit. ‘wu religion, shamanism, witchcraft‘; alternatively 巫觋宗教 wū xí zōngjiào), refers to the shamanic religious tradition of China. Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture. Chinese shamanic traditions are intrinsic to Chinese folk religion. Various ritual traditions are rooted in original Chinese shamanism: contemporary Chinese ritual masters are sometimes identified as wu by outsiders, though most orders don’t self-identify as such. Also Taoism has some of its origins from Chinese shamanism: it developed around the pursuit of long life (shou 壽/寿), or the status of a xian (仙, “mountain man”, “holy man”). The Chinese word wu 巫 “shaman, wizard”, indicating a person who can mediate with the powers generating things (the etymological meaning of “spirit”, “god”, or nomen agentis, virtus, energeia), was first recorded during the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 BCE), when a wu could be either sex. During the late Zhou dynasty (1045-256 BCE) wu was used to specify “female shaman; sorceress” as opposed to xi 覡 “male shaman; sorcerer” (which first appears in the 4th century BCE Guoyu). Other sex-differentiated shaman names include nanwu 男巫 for “male shaman; sorcerer; wizard”; and nüwu 女巫, wunü 巫女, wupo 巫婆, and wuyu 巫嫗 for “female shaman; sorceress; witch.” ref
“The word tongji 童乩 (lit. “youth diviner”) “shaman; spirit-medium” is a near-synonym of wu. Modern Chinese distinguishes native wu from “Siberian shaman“: saman 薩滿 or saman 薩蠻; and from Indian Shramana “wandering monk; ascetic”: shamen 沙門, sangmen 桑門, or sangmen 喪門. Berthold Laufer (1917:370) proposed an etymological relation between Mongolian bügä “shaman”, Turkic bögü “shaman”, Chinese bu, wu (shaman), buk, puk (to divine), and Tibetan aba (pronounced ba, sorcerer). Coblin (1986:107) puts forward a Sino-Tibetan root *mjaɣ “magician; sorcerer” for Chinese wu < mju < *mjag 巫 “magician; shaman” and Written Tibetan ‘ba’-po “sorcerer” and ‘ba’-mo “sorcereress” (of the Bön religion). Further connections are to the bu-mo priests of Zhuang Shigongism and the bi-mo priests of Bimoism, the Yi indigenous faith. Also Korean mu 무 (of Muism) is cognate to Chinese wu 巫. Schuessler lists some etymologies: wu could be cognate with wu 舞 “to dance”; wu could also be cognate with mu 母 “mother” since wu, as opposed to xi 覡, were typically female; wu could be a loanword from Iranian *maghu or *maguš “magi; magician”, meaning an “able one; specialist in ritual”. Mair (1990) provides archaeological and linguistic evidence that Chinese wu < *myag 巫 “shaman; witch, wizard; magician” was maybe a loanword from Old Persian *maguš “magician; magi“. Mair connects the nearly identical Chinese Bronze script for wu and Western heraldic cross potent ☩, an ancient symbol of a magus or magician.” ref
Japanese Shamanism
“The Ainu are traditionally animists, believing that everything in nature has a kamuy (spirit or god) on the inside. The most important include Kamuy-huci, goddess of the hearth, Kim-un-kamuy, god of bears and mountains, and Repun Kamuy, god of the sea, fishing, and marine animals. Kotan-kar-kamuy is regarded as the creator of the world in the Ainu religion. The Ainu are an ethnic group of related indigenous peoples native to Northern Japan, as well the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, and Khabarovsk Krai, occupying these areas since before the arrival of the modern Japanese and Russians. Ainu craftsmen and the Ainu as a whole traditionally believed that “anything made with deep sincerity was imbued with spirit and also became a [kamuy]“ and that ancestors and the power of the family could be invoked through certain patterns in art to protect them from malignant influences.” ref
“Shamanism is part of the indigenous Ainu religion and the Japanese religion of Shinto. Since the early middle-ages Shinto has been influenced by and syncretized with Buddhism and other elements of continental East Eurasian culture. The book “Occult Japan: Shinto, Shamanism and the Way of the Gods” by Percival Lowell delves further into researching Japanese shamanism or Shintoism. The book Japan Through the Looking Glass: Shaman to Shinto uncovers the extraordinary aspects of Japanese beliefs.” ref
“The Ainu have no priests by profession. Instead, the village chief performs whatever religious ceremonies are necessary. Ceremonies are confined to making libations of sake, saying prayers, and offering willow sticks with wooden shavings attached to them. These sticks are called inaw (singular) and nusa (plural). They are placed on an altar used to “send back” the spirits of killed animals. Ainu ceremonies for sending back bears are called Iyomante. The Ainu people give thanks to the gods before eating and pray to the deity of fire in time of sickness. They believe that their spirits are immortal, and that their spirits will be rewarded hereafter by ascending to kamuy mosir (Land of the Gods). The Ainu are part of a larger collective of indigenous people who practice “arctolatry” or bear worship. The Ainu believe that the bear holds particular importance as Kim-un Kamuy‘s chosen method of delivering the gift of the bear’s hide and meat to humans. John Batchelor reported that the Ainu view the world as being a spherical ocean on which float many islands, a view based on the fact that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. He wrote that they believe the world rests on the back of a large fish, which when it moves causes earthquakes.” ref
“Ainu assimilated into mainstream Japanese society have adopted Buddhism and Shintō, while some northern Ainu were converted as members of the Russian Orthodox Church. Regarding Ainu communities in Shikotanto (色丹) and other areas that fall within the Russian sphere of cultural influence, there have been cases of church construction as well as reports that some Ainu have decided to profess their Christian faith. There have also been reports that the Russian Orthodox Church has performed some missionary projects in the Sakhalin Ainu community. However, not many people have converted and there are only reports of several persons who have converted. Converts have been scorned as “Nutsa Ainu” (Russian Ainu) by other members of the Ainu community. Even so, the reports indicate that many Ainu have kept their faith in the deities of ancient times. They traditionally hunt in groups with dogs. Before hunting, particularly for bear and similar animals, they may pray to the Kamuy-huci, the house guardian goddess, to convey their wishes for a large catch, and to the god of mountains for safe hunting.” ref
“Usui Horokeu, also known as Horohoro, from the manga series Shaman King is a member of an Ainu tribe. According to a 2012 survey conducted by Hokkaidō University, a high percentage of Ainu are members of their household family religion which is Buddhism (especially Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism). However, it is pointed out that similar to the Japanese religious consciousness, there is not a strong feeling of identification with a particular religion, with Buddhist and traditional beliefs being part of their daily life culture. According to Tanaka Sakurako from the University of British Columbia, the Ainu culture can be included into a wider “northern circumpacific region”, referring to various indigenous cultures of Northeast Asia and “beyond the Bering Strait” in North America.” ref
“Ainu religion consists of a pantheistic animist structure, in which the world is founded on interactions between humans and Kamuy. Within all living beings, natural forces, and objects is a Ramat (sacred life force) that is an extension of a greater Kamuy. Kamuy are gods or spirits that choose to visit the human world in a temporary physical form, both animate and inanimate, within the human world. Once the physical vessel dies or breaks, the Ramat returns to the Kamuy and leaves its physical form behind as a gift to the humans. If the humans treated the vessel and Kamuy with respect and gratitude, then the Kamuy would return out of delight for the human world. Due to this interaction, the Ainu lived with deep reverence for nature and all objects and phenomena in hopes that the Kamuy would return. The Ainu believed that the Kamuy bestowed objects, skills, and knowledge to utilize tools on to humans, and thus deserve respect and worship. Daily practices included the moderation of hunting, gathering, and harvesting to not disturb the Kamuy. Often, the Ainu would make offerings of an Inau (sacred shaved stick), which usually consisted of a whittled willow tree wood with decorative shavings still attached, and wine to the Kamuy. Furthermore, sacred altars called Nusa (fence-like row of taller Inau decorated with bear skulls) separated from the main house and raised storehouses and often observed outdoor rituals.” ref
“The Ainu people had a ritual that would return Kamuy, a divine or spiritual being in Ainu mythology, to the spiritual realm. This Kamuy sending ritual was called Omante, a bear cub would be captured alive during hibernation, and raised in the village as a child. Women would care for the bear cubs as if they were their children, sometimes even nursing them if needed. Once the bears reached maturity they would hold another ritual every 5 to 10 years called Iomante (sometimes Iyomante). People from neighboring villages were invited to help celebrate this ritual, where members of the village would send the bear back to the realm of spirits by gathering around the bear in a central area and using special ceremonial arrows to shoot at the bear. Afterwards they would eat the meat. However, in 1955 this ritual was legally abolished for animal cruelty. In 2007 this ritual became exempt due to its cultural importance to The Ainu people. This ritual has since been modified, it is now an annual festival. This festival begins at sundown with a torch parade, a play is then performed, and is followed by music and dancing.” ref
“More rituals that were performed were for things like food and illness. The Ainu had a ritual to welcome the salmon, praying for a big catch, as well as a ritual to thank the salmon at the end of the season. The ritual for warding off Kamuy that would bring epidemics, using strong-smelling herbs placed in doorways, windows, and gardens in order to turn away epidemic Kamuy. Similarly to many religions, the Ainu also gave prayers and offerings to their ancestors in the spirit world or afterlife. Prayers would be to the fire Kamuy to deliver their offerings of broken snacks and fruit as well as tobacco(Ainu, Everyculture). Traditional dances are performed at ceremonies, banquets, it’s a part of the newly organized cultural festivals, and is even done privately in daily life. Ainu traditional dances often involve large circles of dancers, and sometimes there are onlookers that sing without musical instruments.” ref
“In rituals these dances are intimate, they involve the calls and movements of animals and/or insects. Some, like the sword and bow dances, are rituals, and these were used as a way to worship and give thanks for nature. This was to thank deities that they believed were in their surroundings. In Iomante, there was also a dance, this dance mimicked the movements of a living bear. However, some dances are improvised and meant just for entertainment. Overall Ainu traditional dancing reinforced their connection to nature, the religious world, and provided a link to other arctic cultures. Funerals included prayers & offerings to the fire kamuy, as well as verse laments expressing wishes for a smooth journey to next world.” ref
“The items that were to be buried with the dead were first broken or cracked to allow spirits to be released and travel to the afterlife together. Sometimes a burial would be followed by burning the residence of the dead. In the event of an unnatural death, there would be a speech raging against the gods. In the afterlife, recognized ancestral spirits moved through and influenced the world, though neglected spirits would return to the living world and cause misfortune. Prosperity of family in the afterlife would depend on prayers and offerings left by living descendants, so it often led to Ainu parents teaching their children to look after them in the afterlife (Ainu, Everyculture).” ref
Regional forms of Shamanism
“Geographical factors heavily influence the character and development of the religion, myths, rituals and epics of Central Eurasia. While in other parts of the world, religious rituals are primarily used to promote agricultural prosperity, here they were used to ensure success in hunting and breeding livestock. Animals are one of the most important elements of indigenous religion in Central Eurasia because of the role they play in the survival of the nomadic civilizations of the steppes as well as sedentary populations living on land not conducive to agriculture. Shamans wore animal skins and feathers and underwent transformations into animals during spiritual journeys. In addition, animals served as humans’ guides, rescuers, ancestors, totems, and sacrificial victims.” ref
“As a religion of nature, shamanism throughout Central Eurasia held particular reverence for the relations between sky, earth and water and believed in the mystical importance of trees and mountains. Shamanism in Central Eurasia also places a strong emphasis on the opposition between summer and winter, corresponding to the huge differences in temperature common in the region. The harsh conditions and poverty caused by the extreme temperatures drove Central Eurasian nomads throughout history to pursue militaristic goals against their sedentary neighbors. This military background can be seen in the reverence for horses and warriors within many indigenous religions.” ref
“Central Eurasian shamans served as sacred intermediaries between the human and spirit world. In this role they took on tasks such as healing, divination, appealing to ancestors, manipulating the elements, leading lost souls and officiating public religious rituals. The shamanic séance served as a public display of the shaman’s journey to the spirit world and usually involved intense trances, drumming, dancing, chanting, elaborate costumes, miraculous displays of physical strength, and audience involvement. The goal of these séances ranged from recovering the lost soul of a sick patient and divining the future to controlling the weather and finding a lost person or thing. The use of sleight-of-hand tricks, ventriloquism, and hypnosis were common in these rituals but did not explain the more impressive feats and actual cures accomplished by shamans.” ref
“Shamans perform in a “state of ecstasy” deliberately induced by an effort of will. Reaching this altered state of consciousness required great mental exertion, concentration and strict self-discipline. Mental and physical preparation included long periods of silent meditation, fasting, and smoking. In this state, skilled shamans employ capabilities that the human organism cannot accomplish in the ordinary state. Shamans in ecstasy displayed unusual physical strength, the ability to withstand extreme temperatures, the bearing of stabbing and cutting without pain, and the heightened receptivity of the sense organs. Shamans made use of intoxicating substances and hallucinogens, especially mukhomor mushrooms and alcohol, as a means of hastening the attainment of ecstasy.” ref
“The use of purification by fire is an important element of the shamanic tradition dating back as early as the 6th century. People and things connected with the dead had to be purified by passing between fires. These purifications were complex exorcisms while others simply involved the act of literally walking between two fires while being blessed by the shaman. Shamans in literature and practice were also responsible for using special stones to manipulate weather. Rituals are performed with these stones to attract rain or repel snow, cold or wind. This “rain-stone” was used for many occasions including bringing an end to drought as well as producing hailstorms as a means of warfare. Despite distinctions between various types of shamans and specific traditions, there is a uniformity throughout the region manifested in the personal beliefs, objectives, rituals, symbols, and the appearance of shamans.” ref
“Some of the prehistoric peoples who once lived in Siberia and other parts of Central and Eastern Eurasia have dispersed and migrated into other regions, bringing aspects of their cultures with them. For example, many Uralic peoples live now outside Siberia; however, the original location of the Proto-Uralic peoples (and its extent) is debated. Combined phytogeographical and linguistic considerations (distribution of various tree species and the presence of their names in various Uralic languages) suggest that this area was north of Central Ural Mountains and on lower and middle parts of Ob River. Newer studies suggest and origin in Northeast Eurasia. Proto-Uralic is suggested to be linked to the Chinese Liao civilization. The ancestors of Hungarian people or Magyars have wandered from their ancestral proto-Uralic area to the Pannonian Basin. Shamanism has played an important role in Turko-Mongol mythology: Tengriism—the major ancient belief among Xiongnu, Mongol and Turkic peoples, Magyars and Bulgars—incorporates elements of shamanism. Shamanism is no more a living practice among Hungarians, but remnants have been reserved as fragments of folklore, in folktales, customs.” ref
“Some historians of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern period have argued that traces of shamanistic traditions can be seen in the popular folk belief of this period. Most prominent among these was the Italian Carlo Ginzburg, who claimed shamanistic elements in the benandanti custom of 16th-century Italy, the Hungarian Éva Pócs, who identified them in the táltos tradition of Hungary, and the Frenchman Claude Lecouteux, who has argued that Medieval traditions regarding the soul are based on earlier shamanic ideas. Ginzburg in particular has argued that some of these traditions influenced the conception of witchcraft in Christendom, in particular ideas regarding the witches’ sabbath, leading to the events of the witch trials in the early modern period. Some of these Italian traditions survived into the 20th and early 21st centuries, allowing Italian-American sociologist Sabina Magliocco to make a brief study of them (2009).” ref
“Slavic Shamanism was widely practiced across the Slavic Pagan Tribes of Eastern Europe but the only living type of Shamanism still practiced that is not reconstructed is that of the Molfars of the Hutsul People. There are active attempts to reconstruct the practice and the practice is widely practiced among Rodnover communities. There are three known shamans in the modern hierarchy of Rodnovery being volkhv, guszlar, and vedmak. The Hmong people are an ethnic group of people originating from Central China, who continue to maintain and practice Ua Neeb. Being a Hmong shaman is a vocation; their primary role is to bring harmony to the individual, their family, and their community within their environment by performing rituals, usually through trance.” ref
“The Hmong believe that all things on Earth have a soul (or multiple souls), each considered equal and possibly interchangeable. Animal sacrifice is central to these beliefs, where it is seen as a necessary request to borrow the animal’s soul to heal a person’s affliction or to save their soul from being captured by a wild spirit for a period of 12 months. During the Hmong New Year, the shaman performs a special ritual to release the animal’s soul to a spiritual dimension. As part of its service to mankind, the animal’s soul is understood to be reincarnated into a ‘higher animal,’ possibly becoming a member of a god’s family (ua Fuab Tais Ntuj tus tub, tus ntxhais) to live a life of luxury, free of suffering as an animal. Hence, participating in this exchange by being sacrificed is one of the greatest honors for the animal.” ref
“Animal sacrifice has been part of the Hmong shamanic practice for the past 5,000 years. After the Vietnam War, over 200,000 Hmong were resettled in the United States and shamanism is still part of the Hmong culture. Before the sacred cockfight, The Hmong of south-east Guizhou cover a rooster with a piece of red cloth and then hold it up to worship and sacrifice to the Heaven and the Earth. In a 2010 trial of a Hmong from Sheboygan, Wisconsin charged with staging a cockfight, it was stated that the roosters were “kept for both food and religious purposes”, and the case ended in an acquittal. In addition to the spiritual dimension, Hmong shamans attempt to treat many physical illnesses through the use of the text of sacred words (khawv koob).” ref
“Manchu Shamanism is one of very few Shamanist traditions which held official status into the modern era, by becoming one of the imperial cults of the Qing dynasty of China (alongside Buddhism, Taoism and traditional Heaven worship). The Palace of Earthly Tranquility, one of the principal halls of the Forbidden City in Beijing, was partly dedicated to Shamanistic rituals. The ritual set-up is still preserved in situ today. Among the Siberian Chukchis peoples, a shaman is interpreted as someone who is possessed by a spirit, who demands that someone assume the shamanic role for their people. Among the Buryat, there is a ritual known as shanar whereby a candidate is consecrated as shaman by another, already-established shaman. Among several Samoyedic peoples, shamanism was a living tradition also in modern times, especially at groups living in isolation, until recent times (Nganasans). The last notable Nganasan shaman’s seances could be recorded on film in the 1970s.” ref
“When the People’s Republic of China was formed in 1949 and the border with Russian Siberia was formally sealed, many nomadic Tungus groups (including the Evenki) that practiced shamanism were confined in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. The last shaman of the Oroqen, Chuonnasuan (Meng Jinfu), died in October 2000. In many other cases, shamanism was in decline even at the beginning of the 20th century, for instance, among the Roma.” ref
“Shamanism is still widely practiced in the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa, Japan), where shamans are known as ‘Noro’ (all women) and ‘Yuta’. ‘Noro’ generally administer public or communal ceremonies while ‘Yuta’ focus on civil and private matters. Shamanism is also practiced in a few rural areas in Japan proper. It is commonly believed that the Shinto religion is the result of the transformation of a shamanistic tradition into a religion. Forms of practice vary somewhat in the several Ryukyu islands, so that there is, for example, a distinct Miyako shamanism. Shamanist practices seem to have been preserved in the Catholic religious traditions of aborigines in Taiwan. Shamanism is also practiced among the Malay community in Malay Peninsula and indigenous people in Sabah and Sarawak. People who practice shamanism in the country are generally called bomoh, and analogously pawang on the Peninsula. In Sabah, the Bobohizan is the main shaman among the Kadazan-Dusun indigenous community.” ref
“Shamanism is still practiced in North and South Korea. In the south, shaman women are known as mudangs, while male shamans are referred to as baksoo mudangs. A person can become a shaman through either a hereditary title or natural ability. In contemporary society, shamans are consulted for financial and marital decisions. Babaylans (also balian or katalonan, among many other indigenous names) were shamans of the various ethnic groups of the pre-colonial Philippine islands. These shamans specialized in harnessing the unlimited powers of nature and were almost always women or feminized men (asog or bayok). They were believed to have spirit guides, by which they could contact and interact with the spirits and deities (anito or diwata) and the spirit world. Their primary role were as mediums during pag-anito séance rituals. There were also various subtypes of babaylan specializing in the arts of healing and herbalism, divination, and sorcery.” ref
“Babaylan were highly respected members of the community, on par with the pre-colonial noble class. In the absence of the datu (head of the domain), the babaylan takes in the role of interim head of the domain. They were powerful ritual specialists with the capability to influence the weather, and tap the various spirits in nature. Babaylans were held in such high esteem because of their ability to negate the dark magic of an evil datu or spirit and heal the sick or the wounded. Among the powers of the babaylan was to heal the sick, ensure a safe pregnancy and child birth, and lead rituals with offerings to the various divinities. The babaylans were well versed in herb lore, and was able to create remedies, antidotes, and potions from various roots and seeds. They used these to treat the sick or to aid an ally datu in bringing down an enemy, hence, the babaylans were also known for their specialization in medical and divine combat.” ref
“Their influence waned when most of the ethnic groups of the Philippines were gradually converted to Islam and forcefully converted to Catholicism. Under the Spanish Empire, babaylan were often maligned and falsely accused as witches and “priests of the devil” and were persecuted harshly by the Spanish clergy. The Spanish burned down everything they associated as connected to the native people’s indigenous religion (including shrines such as the dambana), even forcefully ordering native children to defecate on their own god’s idols. In modern Philippine society, their roles have largely been taken over by folk healers, which are now predominantly male, while some are still being falsely accused as ‘witches’, which has been inputted by Spanish colonialism. In areas where the people have not been converted into Muslims or Christians, notably ancestral domains of indigenous peoples, the shamans and their cultural traits have continued to exist with their respective communities, although these shamans and their practices are being slowly diluted by Christian religions which continue to interfere with their life-ways.” ref
“In Vietnam, shamans conduct rituals in many of the religious traditions that co-mingle in the majority and minority populations. In their rituals, music, dance, special garments and offerings are part of the performance that surround the spirit journey. Shamanism is a part of Vietnamese folk religion, three branches of shamanism are known today as Đạo Mẫu, Thánh Trần worship and Nội Đạo Tràng (of which the most famous is Đạo Mẫu). In Vietnam, this ritual practice is called lên đồng or also known as hầu bóng, or hầu đồng, sessions involve artistic elements such as music, singing, dance and the use of costumes. Chầu văn, which is a traditional folk art of northern Vietnam, related to the Đạo Mẫu. The genre is famous for its use in rituals for deity mediumship. Chầu văn serves two purposes: to help hypnotize the medium for reception of the deities and to accompany the medium’s actions with appropriate music.” ref
“Theyyam or “theiyam” in Malayalam – a south Indian language – is the process by which a Priest invites a Hindu god or goddess to use his or her body as a medium or channel and answer other devotees’ questions. The same is called “arulvaakku” or “arulvaak” in Tamil, another south Indian language – Adhiparasakthi Siddhar Peetam is famous for arulvakku in Tamil Nadu. The people in and around Mangalore in Karnataka call the same, Buta Kola, “paathri” or “darshin”; in other parts of Karnataka, it is known by various names such as, “prashnaavali”, “vaagdaana”, “asei”, “aashirvachana” and so on. In Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh a similar Shamanic ritual happen in Hindu temples: it is called “Jagar” and in Himachal, “Gur.” ref
“In Nepal and Sikkim, “dhaamee” or “Jhakri” are common names used for shamans. They exist in the Limbu, Sunuwar, Rai, Sherpa, Kami, Tamang, Gurung, Magar and Lepcha communities. They are influenced by Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Mun and Bön rites. In English, the closest translation for this position is “oracle.” The Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in northern India, still consults an oracle known as the Nechung Oracle, which is considered the official state oracle of the government of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has, according to centuries-old custom, consulted the Nechung Oracle during the new year festivities of Losar.” ref
“On the island of Papua New Guinea, indigenous tribes believe that illness and calamity are caused by dark spirits, or masalai, which cling to a person’s body and poison them. Shamans are summoned in order to purge the unwholesome spirits from a person. Shamans also perform rainmaking ceremonies and can allegedly improve a hunter’s ability to catch animals. In Australia various aboriginal groups refer to their shamans as “clever men” and “clever women” also as kadji. These aboriginal shamans use maban or mabain, the material that is believed to give them their purported magical powers. Besides healing, contact with spiritual beings, involvement in initiation and other secret ceremonies, they are also enforcers of tribal laws, keepers of special knowledge and may “hex” to death one who breaks a social taboo by singing a song only known to the “clever men.” ref
“In Mali, Dogon sorcerers (both male and female) communicate with a spirit named Amma, who advises them on healing and divination practices. The classical meaning of shaman as a person who, after recovering from a mental illness (or insanity) takes up the professional calling of socially recognized religious practitioner, is exemplified among the Sisala (of northern Gold Coast): “the fairies “seized” him and made him insane for several months. Eventually, though, he learned to control their power, which he now uses to divine.” The term sangoma, as employed in Zulu and congeneric languages, is effectively equivalent to shaman. Sangomas are highly revered and respected in their society, where illness is thought to be caused by witchcraft, pollution (contact with impure objects or occurrences), bad spirits, or the ancestors themselves, either malevolently, or through neglect if they are not respected, or to show an individual her calling to become a sangoma (thwasa). For harmony between the living and the dead, vital for a trouble-free life, the ancestors must be shown respect through ritual and animal sacrifice.” ref
“The term inyanga also employed by the Nguni cultures is equivalent to ‘herbalist’ as used by the Zulu people and a variation used by the Karanga, among whom remedies (locally known as muti) for ailments are discovered by the inyanga being informed in a dream, of the herb able to effect the cure and also of where that herb is to be found. The majority of the herbal knowledge base is passed down from one inyanga to the next, often within a particular family circle in any one village. Shamanism is known among the Nuba of Kordofan in Sudan.” ref
“Eskimo groups inhabit a huge area stretching from eastern Siberia through Alaska and Northern Canada (including Labrador Peninsula) to Greenland. Shamanistic practice and beliefs have been recorded at several parts of this vast area crosscutting continental borders. The term “shamanism” can cover multiple characteristics of various different cultures. Mediation is regarded often as an important aspect of shamanism in general. Also in most Eskimo groups, the role of mediator is known well: the person filling it in is actually believed to be able to contact the beings who populate the belief system. The term “shaman” is used in several English-language publications also in relation to Eskimos. The word alignalghi (IPA: [aˈliɣnalʁi]) of the Eurasian Eskimos is translated as “shaman” in the Russian and English literature.” ref
“The belief system assumes specific links between the living people, the souls of hunted animals, and those of dead people. The soul concepts of several groups are specific examples of soul dualism (showing variability in details in the various cultures). Unlike the majority of shamans the careers of most Eskimo shamans lack the motivation of force: becoming a shaman is usually seen as a result of deliberate consideration, not a necessity forced by the spirits. There are similarities in the cultures of the Eskimo groups together with diversity, far from homogeneity.” ref
“The Russian linguist Menovshikov (Меновщиков), an expert of Siberian Yupik and Sireniki Eskimo languages (while admitting that he is not a specialist in ethnology) mentions, that the shamanistic seances of those Siberian Yupik and Sireniki groups he has seen have many similarities to those of Greenland Inuit groups described by Fridtjof Nansen, although a large distance separates Siberia and Greenland. There may be certain similarities also in Eurasiatic groups with North American ones. Also the usage of a specific shaman’s language is documented among several Eskimo groups, used mostly for talking to spirits. Also the Ungazighmiit (belonging to Siberian Yupiks) had a special allegoric usage of some expressions.” ref
“The local cultures showed great diversity. The myths concerning the role of shaman had several variants, and also the name of their protagonists varied from culture to culture. For example, a mythological figure, usually referred to in the literature by the collective term Sea Woman, has factually many local names: Nerrivik “meat dish” among Polar Inuit, Nuliayuk “lubricous” among Netsilingmiut, Sedna “the nether one” among Baffin Land Inuit. Also, the soul conceptions, e.g. the details of the soul dualism showed great variability, ranging from guardianship to a kind of reincarnation. Conceptions of spirits or other beings had also many variants.” ref
“Mesoamerica shamans can be thoughtto relate to Maya such as seen in the Maya religion and the Maya priesthood or to Aztec such as seen in the Aztec astrology and Aztec religion. In South America, the Urarina of the Peruvian Amazon have an elaborate cosmological system predicated on the ritual consumption of ayahuasca, which is a key feature of their society. Santo Daime and União do Vegetal ( abbreviated to UDV) are syncretic religions with which use an entheogen called ayahuasca in an attempt to connect with the spirit realm and receive divine guidance. Among the Mapuche people of Chile, a machi is usually a woman who serves the community by performing ceremonies to cure diseases, ward off evil, influence the weather and harvest, and by practicing other forms of healing such as herbalism. For the Aymara people of South America the Yatiri is a healer who heals the body and the soul, they serve the community and do the rituals for Pachamama. Part of the healing power attributed to shamanic practices depends on the use of plant alkaloids taken during the therapeutic sessions.” ref
“In the Peruvian Amazon basin and north coastal regions of the country, the healers are known as curanderos. Ayahuasqueros are Peruvians who specialize in the use of ayahuasca. Ayahuasqueros have become popular among Western spiritual seekers, who claim that the ayauasqueros and their ayahuasca brews have cured them of everything from depression to addiction to cancer. In addition to curanderos use of ayahuasca and their ritualized ingestion of mescaline-bearing San Pedro cactuses (Echinopsis pachanoi) for the divination and diagnosis of sorcery, north-coastal shamans are famous throughout the region for their intricately complex and symbolically dense healing altars called mesas (tables). Sharon (1993) has argued that the mesas symbolize the dualistic ideology underpinning the practice and experience of north-coastal shamanism. For Sharon, the mesas are the, “physical embodiment of the supernatural opposition between benevolent and malevolent energies” (Dean 1998: 61).” ref
“In several tribes living in the Amazon rainforest, the spiritual leaders also act as managers of scarce ecological resources The rich symbolism in Tukano culture has been documented in field works even in the last decades of the 20th century.” ref
“The yaskomo of the Waiwai is believed to be able to perform a soul flight. The soul flight can serve several functions:
- healing
- flying to the sky to consult cosmological beings (the moon or the brother of the moon) to get a name for a newborn baby
- flying to the cave of peccaries’ mountains to ask the father of peccaries for abundance of game
- flying deep down in a river, to achieve the help of other beings.
Thus, a yaskomo is believed to be able to reach sky, earth, and water.” ref
“Although Fuegians (the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego) were all hunter-gatherers, they did not share a common culture. The material culture was not homogenous, either: the big island and the archipelago made two different adaptations possible. Some of the cultures were coast-dwelling, others were land-oriented. Both Selk’nam and Yámana had persons filling in shaman-like roles. The Selk’nams believed their /xon/s to have supernatural capabilities, e.g. to control weather. The figure of /xon/ appeared in myths, too. The Yámana /jekamuʃ/ corresponds to the Selknam /xon/.” ref
Shamanistic and Animistic Cultures map by “The Shamanism Magazine” (http://SacredHoop.org)
https://sacredhoop.org/Free-Guide-To-Shamanism/Sacred-Hoop-Free-Guide-To-Shamanism.pdf
Genetics Reveal Movements of Ancient Siberians
“DNA reveals the previously unknown degree of mixture between Japan, North America, and the Eurasian mainland. Ancient DNA preserved in the icy climate of Siberia has revealed new insights about how ancient humans migrated five to seven thousand years ago.” ref
“In a study published recently in Current Biology, the researchers examined the DNA from 10 different ancient humans, which is quite a lot considering most of them date from 5,500 to 7,500 years old. These remains came from three locations in Siberia — the Altai Mountains, the Kamchatka Peninsula, and the Russian Far East.” ref
Altai Mountains meetings and Shamanism?
“Researchers were surprised to discover a previously unknown population with mixed genetics in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia. At some point during the last Ice Age, a group of ancient north Eurasians mixed with a population from northeastern Siberia. The corresponding mixture is one that researchers haven’t seen before, the head researcher explained. It’s also not clear where these two groups first met and intermingled since the people were mostly nomadic at the time. It’s possible they met in the region where the remains are found, though, which may have provided a good passage between mountains to the north and the desert to the south. “It’s a perfect meeting point for groups, geographically speaking,” the head researcher explained.” ref
“Five of the Altai Mountains remains — all males — had very similar DNA, despite dating from different times between 7,500 and 5,500 years ago. But the sixth male, which dates to about 6,500 years ago, comes from farther east. The DNA shows this, but so does the archaeological context. The individual was buried with rich burial goods and a costume that the head researcher explained could indicate some sort of shamanism. Moreover, the head researcher explained it’s unclear whether this man is representative of a larger migration between the Altai Mountains and people farther east. But it shows that a degree of movement was occurring between different people at the time.” ref
Japanese Connection?
“Nest, one of the analyzed individuals was found in the Russian Far East. This male isn’t that remarkable at first glance, for the DNA resembles that of other similarly aged people that have been previously analyzed. Or at least three-quarters of the DNA is similar. The other quarter of this man’s genome appears to be Japanese. This discovery is surprising. This man dates back to about 7,000 years ago, but Japan was settled much earlier — possibly 30,000 years ago. This means that people from Japan were traveling back to the mainland and mixing with other humans there. “These hunter-gatherers were also able to cross bodies of water and interact among each other,” the head researcher explained. Overall, these results show how fluid ancient people were in Eurasia and even North America. “These foraging communities were in close contact with each other, they were highly mobile with each other and were admixing,” the head researcher also explained. “We are really talking about large-distance mobility.” ref
Crossing the water to and from the Americas?
“Two males and one female from Kamchatka lived relatively recently — only 500 years ago. The reason it’s interesting is that researchers haven’t previously published any ancient genome information from this region. All three of the remains the head researcher and his colleagues analyzed contained small portions of ancestry from Indigenous Americans. The presence of these markers suggests that Indigenous Americans were also crossing back to Russia prior to the period these individuals were alive. “This probably happened over a long period of time,” the head researcher explained. While researchers had previously known there was gene flow back and forth across the Bering Sea — perhaps for 5,000 years — this finding stretches that area of gene flow further south into the Kamchatka Peninsula.” ref
Here are other supporting articles:
- Americans’ Journeys to Asia Thousands of Years Ago Analysis of ten Eurasian individuals, up to 7,500 years old, gives a new picture of movement across continents
- Genomic study of the Ket: A Paleo-Eskimo-related ethnic group with significant ancient North Eurasian ancestry
- Paleolithic to Bronze Age Siberians Reveal Connections with First Americans and across Eurasia
- The genetic history of admixture across inner Eurasia. The indigenous populations of inner Eurasia, a huge geographic region covering the central Eurasian steppe and the northern Eurasian taiga and tundra, harbor tremendous diversity in their genes, cultures, and languages. In this study, we report novel genome-wide data for 763 individuals from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
- Genetic analysis reveals Europeans descended from at least three ancient groups. Almost all present-day Europeans descend from the mixing of Ancient North Eurasians and two other populations, earlier hunter-gatherers, and ancient Near Eastern farmers. Ancient North Eurasian DNA wasn’t found in either the hunter-gatherers or the early farmers, suggesting the Ancient North Eurasians arrived in the area later, he said. This group appears to have contributed DNA to present-day Europeans as well as to the people who traveled across the Bering Strait into the Americas more than 15,000 years ago.
Animism in the Altai Mountain Area?
“Worship of nature, the three worlds in Altai mythology, Altai shamanism, Altai epic myths, Altai annual communal ceremonies marking the seasonal cycles, sacred fire mythology, Prayers/Blessings, Altai magic (tarmalga), afterlife/soul belief, and Shamanistic Healing.”
“The Republic of Altai, (the mountainous Altai), is a republic of Russia located in southern Siberia, and is part of the Russian Federation. The Republic is located about 500km South of Novosibirsk, bordering China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. The Altai people, in total, number 76,000, and are made of 6 different groups; Telengit, Altai Kizhi, Tubular, Kumandin, Shor, and Chalkan. This research paper will focus on the 65,000 Altai (Telengit and Altai Kizhi) people who speak Southern Altai fluently. The language is used in arts, media, in education and in everyday life. The majority of the Altai are also fairly fluent in Russian, with the exception of those living in remote villages. I am interested in researching their animistic and shamanistic worldview and practices more thoroughly in order to have increased insight into their culture.” ref
Worship of nature?
“The Altai religious beliefs are based on animism. The Altai worship gods in nature, in trees, rivers, and mountains. In Altai, a wise person is one who knows and observes the laws of nature and who respects and lives in harmony with the forces of nature, which are all dependent on the energy from the sky, fire, and water spirits. There is a higher power (Ulgen), angels, spirits of the mountains, rivers, and springs, spirits of the home, and the ruler of the lower earth (Erlik). Altai’s mountains are sacred places to the clans of the Altai people. Mountains protect clans from evil spirits and facilitate prosperity and well-being. Each clan (seok) has a sacred mountain (yiyk tuu). Each valley, each mountain peak, and each spring has its own spirits, or masters, known in Altai as ‘eezi’.” ref
“The Altai tradition of worshipping mountain, river, and mountain-pass spirits has deep roots and still plays a significant role in the people’s worldview. Mountain spirits often occur in epics, myths, legends, and stories. There are specific rituals undertaken today, through which a particular clan worships at their mountain. The Altai try to pacify nature by bringing presents for the mountains, such as bright-colored ribbons to attach to trees and the sprinkling of alcohol and milk on the top of mountain passes to thank the gods for safe passage. The mountains in turn help people in trouble, and each mountain has its own name and legend. Previously, each traveler, knowing where he was going, and which mountain passes he would cross, would prepare his ribbons and take them with him. Through the tying of the ribbons, the traveler is asking a blessing, but also promising to keep the local traditions and preserve the Altai nature. The tying of the ribbons shows love and loyalty to the Altai spirit. The ribbons are normally white, but yellow ribbons symbolize the sun, blue the sky, red is fire and green symbolizes grass. This tradition is continued today.” ref
Three Worlds?
“There are three worlds in Altai mythology, with the ‘eternal poplar’ which symbolizes a world tree marking the center of the world. The road to the higher and lower levels of the world runs up and down this tree, which unites all the worlds by passing through the middle world where humans dwell. Good white substances rise up to the sky in blessings, and heavy black substances flow down towards the lower world, the realm of Erlik, and his evil forces. The middle world where humans dwell is divided into two; visible and invisible. The flat territory, such as plains and valleys, is the visible realm of man, and the mountains and rivers are the domains of the spirits, where man is a guest and must observe certain rules. These three worlds are interconnected and express the Altai understanding of God through nature.” ref
Shamans?
“Shamans are the link between the world of the living and that of the spirits. In Altai today, there are no official shamans who still use the dark force and worship Erlik. However, shamanistic rituals have played a large role in the history and the culture of the Altai people, and so these still play a large part in making up people’s worldview. Unofficially there are prophets (jarlikchi) who operate privately and use white energies in their rituals. There is a movement within Altai to revive the animistic and shamanist beliefs and practices.” ref
“Altai shamanism is oral in nature and there is no written statement of rules and regulations. The function of the shaman is healing, controlling the weather, exorcism, searching for lost objects and the sending of the spirits of the dead into the next world. The shaman in Altai is called the ‘kam’, who is a mediator between the world of the dead and humans. The shaman communicates with the spirits, using a drum, and is able to send his ‘double’ to different places in the universe. The shaman can also ask the spirits of nature to assist him. The ‘kam’ ability is inherited, and the man predestined to become a shaman, will fall ill in childhood and into a frenzy or trance. Black shamanism involves the worship of Erlik (the demonic Lord of the underworld) and travels to the spirit underworld.” ref
“The drum or tambourine is a special gift given by the gods to the shaman, as evidence that he is qualified. The ceremony of manufacturing and presenting the tambourine goes on for several days watched by a large crowd. The tambourine is played with a special rhythm while the shaman appeals to the gods. If the tambourine skin breaks during the ritual, it means spirits have come to punish the shaman and he will die soon. Other than the tambourine, the other sacred Altai object of worship is the shaman costume. When the shaman strikes the tambourine, the spirits rush towards him, and some settle in his garments and some in the tambourine. The most important spirits go into the shaman himself, with a large intake of breath from the shaman. The shaman clothes include braids, pendants, tissue, animal skins, and parts, as well as images of snakes and monsters.” ref
White Shamanism?
“White shamanism experienced a revival in the early 20th century and a movement was founded called the ‘White Faith’ (‘Ak Jang’). The followers of the ‘White Faith’ excluded contact with the dark spirits and underworld, and only worshipped the white guardians. The highest deity was called ‘Altai-Kudai’ in place of Ulgen. The ‘spirits of place’ were re-named ‘burkhans’ and that is why the ‘White Faith’ is also called ‘Burkhanism’ today. Blood sacrifice to the spirits using cattle was stopped, and so was the use of wine and tobacco in rituals. Their spirit messengers were re-named ‘jarlikchi’. The ‘White Faith’ movement is waiting for the return of the Oirot-khan as a national hero and Saviour. The White Faith group only communicates with the good white spirits and attempts to maintain harmony with nature and to bring blessing through their practices.” ref
Altai epic myths?
“The oral epic story tradition is of great importance to the Altai people, and traditionally these myths and legends were re-told through the medium of throat singing on the two-stringed lute (topshur). Originally, these throat singers were considered to have unusual abilities, as a result of their special relationship to the spirits. The ancient Altai epic myths show the life and history of the Altai people. They are oral masterpieces which been passed down from generation to generation. The epic “Altai Baatyrlar” (Altaian Bogatyrs or heroic warriors) was published in nine volumes (approximately 100,000 lines of poetry), and there are many other unpublished epic tales. The Altai myths also contain plots, heroes and characteristics from other people’s legends, such as the Kyrgyz or the Buryat. These epic stories are told through throat-singing (kay) and it can take a week to sing an epic of 7,000 lines.” ref
“The most famous Altai epic is called ‘Maadai-Kara’ by Elbek Kalkin. Khan Maadai-Kara is an old hero who has already lost his power. He sleeps for sixty days, but when he wakes up, he realizes that a hostile ruler is approaching to seize him, his property, and his people. When his wife gives birth to a son, Khan Maadai-Kara hides his son in the black mountain under the protection of the birch trees. This son is raised by the spirit-owner of Altai in the forests. When his parents are captured by Erlik, he eventually rescues them, and he returns the golden era to Altai. The epic stories are very similar in themes: wars with lords who attack Altai land and property; wars for brides when there are many candidates; or wars for stolen herds of animals. The characteristic of Altai legends is that all the heroes possess magic powers: the hero’s horse knows and sees everything; the wife of the hero can predict all things in advance; and the young girl knows beforehand whom she will marry.” ref
“The Altai also have legends which explain the creation of the world. According to these legends, there were three brothers in heaven who jointly created the world: Ulgen, Tayashi, and Erlik. However, after creating the world they argued amongst themselves about who had put the most effort into creating, and as a result of this argument they split the world into three parts: Ulgen stayed in the heavens, Tayashi came down to earth, and the youngest brother Erlik went to the under-world. From heaven, Ulgen rained down on earth cold, lightning, thunder, snow, and rain, and using this, Tayashi created on earth lakes and rivers, forests, and animals, and all the animals and birds that live in them. Under the earth, Erlik became angry and offended with his brothers, and decided to bring evil on all earth’s inhabitants, resulting in conflict and suffering to this day.” ref
Ceremonies?
“The Altai perform four major communal annual ceremonies, marking the season cycles of the year. They are Altai New Year in March (the ‘year-melt’), the rituals of spring (‘green leaves’), the rituals of autumn (‘yellow leaves’), and the New Year festival (‘white feast’). At the start of the summer, those conducting the ritual ask the higher powers for more livestock, a good harvest, and prosperity. In the autumn, they ask for the protection of livestock over the winter and a good end to a difficult period. These ceremonies are undergoing a period of revival in some Altai villages today.” ref
“During these festivals, milk and white food are cast into the fire, and white ribbons are hung on trees, in dedication to the local spirits and gods. The Altai are trying to gain the approval of the spirits and their blessing on the time ahead, and especially on the livestock, the hunting, and the harvest. There are also games, meals, and competitions organized along with these rituals. Once every two years, all of the Altai Republic gathers for the festival of El-Oyin, (‘nationwide games’) with the aim to maintain the customs and traditions of the Altai people, including sports, competitions, throat singing, and theatrical shows. I was present at the opening ceremony of this festival in 2017, when one of the epic Altai legends was acted out and sung.” ref
“Other ceremonies in Altai include the visitation of healing springs (arzhan) which involves a broad range of religious and healing rituals and procedures, including fasting and abstinence from smoking and alcohol. In order to visit the arzhan, one doesn’t have to be sick. On the contrary, it is considered best to conduct these rituals in order to support one’s life force.” ref
Fire?
“The Altai have a special relationship of respect to fire, and they call fire the ‘head of the family’. The home fire is sacred, so rubbish should not be thrown into it, it should never be extinguished, and gifts are made to the fire. The shaman will begin the ‘kam’ ritual celebrating and turning to the god of mother fire, and she can be asked for assistance in upcoming travels. If the Altai people do not fear fire, the fire will cause destructive fires in the home and in the village. During wedding preparations, while the bride’s hair is plaited, the groom lights a fire which represents the fire of their family life. If the fire burns well, they will have success as a family, and if the fire wanes or goes out, so will their family life. Every family must feed their own fire daily with food and milk offerings, and if a guest arrives with food, that food must first be offered also to the fire. If a family member becomes ill, they are placed on their back and cooled cinders from the hearth are placed on their stomach and rubbed in, while the house owner declares a blessing.” ref
Ails?
“Traditionally the Altai people lived in ails, which are hexagonal constructions made of timber with a conical roof. The door must be orientated towards the east, which is where the sun rises. It is only possible to move counterclockwise round the ail, and the honored guests are always seated in the place of honor near the fireplace. Today Altai families live in Russian houses, but they still use their ails as a summer house.” ref
Prayers and Blessings?
“A lot of the ancient Altai mythology is found in their prayers and blessing (alkysh). Communication with the good spirits of nature of the ‘excluded middle’ in the Altai spiritual worldview takes place by their prayers (ailatkysh) and blessings (alkysh). To read a blessing one needs to specify a certain intention or goal. Here is an example of an Altai blessing:
“Lord God Altai! Spirit of Altai! Precious elements! Give your blessing! May no dark substance curse my path with obstacles. Help me to fulfill my purpose. White substance, give your strength, pure substance, give the consciousness necessary in order to… (personal intention follows). May the spirit of kindness fill our hearts, God Altai, Spirit of Altai! Chok!” ref
“‘Chok’ means, ‘I worship, revere, and bow before you’. When making a blessing, the person should turn towards the East where the sun rises, and then to the peak of a sacred mountain and make a small bow. Men remove their hats and stroke their head several times from the crown to the forehead, and women stroke their hair forwards or push it behind their ears with both hands bending their head. Blessings are normally made at group gatherings, usually held at the new moon before mid-day in the morning sunlight. These blessings strengthen the energy of the soul and provide a way to influence one’s destiny for the better. They always take place outside and provide a link with nature, channeling the good energy of nature towards the person. Such blessings help to strengthen the energy of the soul.” ref
Magic?
“Altai magic (tarmalga) has existed for a very long time, and includes sorcery, wizardry, witchcraft, magic, superstitions, prediction, signs, omens, and incantations. Originally white and black magic existed together. The symbol for white magic in Altai is a leather milk vessel used for holding milk that is sprinkled during prayer. The sign for black magic is a mask, probably explained by the fact that the person loses their true identity when they practice black magic. There are various ritual objects now held in the National Museum in Altai that are covered in symbols and help explain some of the ancient magical practices. Cult signs can be found on flint stones. On the flint stones used in white magic, the morning star was shown, and on those used in black magic, either the evening star or two masks were depicted.” ref
“One of the most important actions of a sorcerer is the banishment of the spirit of illness or demons from a person’s soul. A demon may live in the center of a soul, and an illness can cause a person to be cruel and unkind, causing harm to those around him. Such a person has become a victim of dark energy which has come to live in his soul, banishing the white energy of kindness. If the sorcerer is not able to exorcise the illness, he may ask the assistance of the white shaman or prophet (jarlikchi). The healing rituals take place between the 8th and 15th day of the month when there is the whitest substance in the atmosphere. During the ritual the sorcerer or prophet will say a blessing or an incantation. The sick person may be given a protective amulet made by the prophet to be carried on his person for further protection from dark energies and influences.” ref
“During the ritual, the shaman uses a drum or tambourine, and a ritual object symbolizing images of the shaman’s ancestors on the maternal and paternal life for six generations. This would protect the shaman and his family from accidents, ill-spoken words, and the evil eye, and these objects were also used in divination. Every ritual object would have its own sphere of influence – over hunting, over sick people, over the health of children, over the cattle etc. There are currently no shamans in Altai serving the dark force as in the past. There are prophets (jarlikchi) who use white energies in the rituals and burn heather and juniper. The function of this interaction with the spirit world is protection over the evil dark forces, through incantations, amulets, and other ritual objects.” ref
Death?
In the very ancient Altai culture, death was considered a passage into another life, and a man’s possessions were buried with him. It was believed that a person goes into this life with a horse and goes out with it, so horses were buried with the rich. Nowadays, sometimes a ritual after death may be carried out by a spirit-seer in Altai, who makes offerings to the soul of the deceased. A spirit-seer is invited to the home of the deceased, and he is able to see the soul of the deceased. The soul communicates with the seer, expressing its last wishes before departing. On the seventh day the soul returns home to collect personal belongings needed in the next world and to have refreshments. The seer carries out a ritual to make offerings to the soul of the deceased, which takes place in the evening, with offerings made from an earthenware bowl. Food is placed in the bowl, alcohol is sprinkled on the ground and crockery is smashed.” ref
?On the seventh day the spirit of milk leaves the human body. The door should be kept ajar, and the home should be quiet and unlit. After the fortieth day the spirit of the deceased will never again return to the family home or pursue loved ones. The soul of the deceased may be sent to the underworld to be cleansed if the person has broken the laws of nature during their life. If the deceased appears in a relative’s dream, the prophet may be called to conduct another ritual, aiming to separate the deceased’s soul from the relative’s consciousness. The fire cleansing ritual is carried out in the relatives’ house and words of an incantation are spoken. The purpose of this communication with the soul of the dead is to provide protection for the living, and to allow the soul of the deceased to leave the body in a peaceful way.” ref
Healing?
“Healing has a special significance in the context of traditional Altai Shamanism. Every sickness is perceived as the work of evil, and so the need for healing by supernatural means is one of the crucial needs of the Altai people. An important part of the shaman’s work was healing, as the shamans would banish the spirit of illness or demons from the person’s soul. Now, despite the lack of official shamans, local folk doctors are sometimes preferred over medical doctors. Rituals for healing the sick are still carried out and the sick person may be given an amulet for protection from dark influences. Water is also believed by the Altai people to be a source of strength and healing. They believe that there are spirits who live in the rivers and lakes who are able to heal illness and give long-life.” ref
Blessing and Harmony?
“The gaining of favor and blessing from the good spirits in nature as a family and as a society is a key felt need of the Altai people. There are several important Altai festivals during the year, one of which is Chaga-Bairam, the Altai New Year. This is celebrated in February at the beginning of the new moon. It is an ancient festival which is designed to bring about the development of the Altai people and country, peace and favor to society, fullness and blessing in the family, and health to the cattle and crops to be planted later in the year. The festival begins early in the morning with a ritual to worship the sun of Altai. Sacrifices of milk products are brought on a special altar, ribbons are tied to trees and a fire is lit and fed. Later in the day there is a celebration, including skating on skates and furs, eating national food, and cultural and sport competitions. The Altai are celebrating the soon arrival of spring and the new cycle of the calendar year.” ref
“In June, while a full moon can be seen in the sky, the Altai people celebrated the holiday which was a symbol of the beginning of summer, called ‘Green leaves’. This was the time when the first leaves came out and everything was in blossom, so that people could graze their cattle again. During the holiday they thanked the spirits for a good winter. In autumn they celebrated ‘Yellow leaves’. This holiday is devoted to the master of Altai taiga forest. During this holiday people asked him for warm and ‘full of food’ winters. The Altai people need harmony with nature, good weather, and success in hunting, and these two festivals answered these felt needs. These Altai festivals have not been celebrated during the Soviet era, but currently, there is a revitalization of these rituals and in some places now in Altai these festivals are celebrated.” ref
Protection?
?The Altai people are searching for security and an ability to control basic life issues. They are looking for protection from potential dangers which are perceived to be linked to the spiritual world. One category of protection is from physical dangers: wild animals, weather conditions, road accidents, drowning, getting lost, and so on. These remain very important issues for hunters and professional drivers whose everyday life is endangered by harsh Siberian conditions. Another important category is protection from the influence of evil spirits. In the following paragraphs there is a description of different ways in which the Altai religion provides this protection, which is so eagerly sought.” ref
“In their houses, the Altai hang a protector of their house called a ‘jaik’. In order to set up the ‘jaik’ in the house, an unofficial shaman is invited. Then, each month, at the new moon, the spirit ‘jaik’ is presented with offerings of food. The ‘jaik’ is the defender and protector of the house and the heart of the family. The Altai also burn juniper and the smoke is considered a very valuable smell practically to kill bacteria, but also to cleanse the house and area around from evil spirits. It burns away black substance and strengthens the soul. The fire is also the heart of the family, providing protection, and traditionally was regularly fed to pacify and please the spirits. Moreover, any storm, illness or misfortune which occurs after the failure to observe the fire-feeding ritual may be interpreted as judgement from the spirits. The fire feeding is a way to influence everyday reality and avoid problems. Due to the high esteem shown to fire, the Altai people will never throw rubbish on a fire, spit on it or cross over it.” ref
“Another method to ward off unclean spirits, is the hanging of a bear’s paw over the door of the house. People believe that this paw can ward off unclean spirits. If a cow stops giving milk, it is believed that someone has given the cow the Evil Eye and that bad energy has affected the cow. At this point the owner of the house will take the paw of the bear and do a massage of the cow’s teats. The cow is relieved from stress and the milk will return. Whips are also hung over doors, connected to the belief that unclean spirits are afraid of the whip’s handle, since it is made from a thorny bush. Such a whip can also be used to exorcise unclean spirits from people.” ref
“After eating fatty food in the evening and before going outside, an Altai person will cleanse their mouth with a lit match or a hot branch from the fire. This is believed to stop an evil spirit licking the person’s lips. If they go to bed in an unknown house, they lie down with their head towards the door. Then, when an unclean spirit comes, it will fall on their legs instead of on their heads. In order to be protected from bad dreams at night, the Altai put a knife or match underneath their pillows.” ref
“Mothers also keep the umbilical cord of their children and make a guardian key-ring from it to protect their children. Previously this was sewn into the women’s Altai costume. The key-ring is four-cornered for a boy, and three-cornered for a girl. Above a newborn baby’s cot, Altai people also hang the claws of a wild beast and these will also protect the baby from unclean spirits. If someone kills a duck, above his tail there is a special part containing fat protected by the flapping of the duck’s wings. The hunter cuts off this fatty part and sews it into the clothes of a child, to ward off evil spirits. If some of the feathers, still attached to this fatty part of the duck, start to become fluffy like a dandelion, it is held that the child will grow up healthy.” ref
“A mother may sew small buttons and the claw of a rat into the fur coat of a child to protect it from the evil eye. These charms in Altai are connected often to animals and nature, and many can be obtained through hunting, which is an important part of Altai life and culture. The Altai hunters also have a special amulet that is the patron of their weapons. If the amulet is placed in a special pipe, tobacco is placed over it and it is smoked, then an unclean spirit cannot harm his hunter.” ref
People don’t commonly teach religious history, even that of their own claimed religion. No, rather they teach a limited “pro their religion” history of their religion from a religious perspective favorable to the religion of choice.
Do you truly think “Religious Belief” is only a matter of some personal choice?
Do you not see how coercive one’s world of choice is limited to the obvious hereditary belief, in most religious choices available to the child of religious parents or caregivers? Religion is more commonly like a family, culture, society, etc. available belief that limits the belief choices of the child and that is when “Religious Belief” is not only a matter of some personal choice and when it becomes hereditary faith, not because of the quality of its alleged facts or proposed truths but because everyone else important to the child believes similarly so they do as well simply mimicking authority beliefs handed to them. Because children are raised in religion rather than being presented all possible choices but rather one limited dogmatic brand of “Religious Belief” where children only have a choice of following the belief as instructed, and then personally claim the faith hereditary belief seen in the confirming to the belief they have held themselves all their lives. This is obvious in statements asked and answered by children claiming a faith they barely understand but they do understand that their family believes “this or that” faith, so they feel obligated to believe it too. While I do agree that “Religious Belief” should only be a matter of some personal choice, it rarely is… End Hereditary Religion!
Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey
“How have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements in their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In this new study, Graham Harvey explores current and past animistic beliefs and practices of Native Americans, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans. He considers the varieties of animism found in these cultures as well as their shared desire to live respectfully within larger natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey also considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of these different animisms.” ref
We are like believing machines we vacuum up ideas, like Velcro sticks to almost everything. We accumulate beliefs that we allow to negatively influence our lives, often without realizing it. Our willingness must be to alter skewed beliefs that impend our balance or reason, which allows us to achieve new positive thinking and accurate outcomes.
My thoughts on Religion Evolution with external links for more info:
- (Pre-Animism Africa mainly, but also Europe, and Asia at least 300,000 years ago), (Pre-Animism – Oxford Dictionaries)
- (Animism Africa around 100,000 years ago), (Animism – Britannica.com)
- (Totemism Europe around 50,000 years ago), (Totemism – Anthropology)
- (Shamanism Siberia around 30,000 years ago), (Shamanism – Britannica.com)
- (Paganism Turkey around 12,000 years ago), (Paganism – BBC Religion)
- (Progressed Organized Religion “Institutional Religion” Egypt around 5,000 years ago), (Ancient Egyptian Religion – Britannica.com)
- (CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS after 4,000 years ago) (Origin of Major Religions – Sacred Texts)
- (Early Atheistic Doubting at least by 2,600 years ago) (History of Atheism – Wikipedia)
“Religion is an Evolved Product” and Yes, Religion is Like Fear Given Wings…
Atheists talk about gods and religions for the same reason doctors talk about cancer, they are looking for a cure, or a firefighter talks about fires because they burn people and they care to stop them. We atheists too often feel a need to help the victims of mental slavery, held in the bondage that is the false beliefs of gods and the conspiracy theories of reality found in religions.
Understanding Religion Evolution:
- Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago)
- Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago)
- Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago)
- Shamanism (Siberia: 30,000 years ago)
- Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago)
- Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago), (Egypt, the First Dynasty 5,150 years ago)
- CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago)
- Early Atheistic Doubting (at least by 2,600 years ago)
“An Archaeological/Anthropological Understanding of Religion Evolution”
It seems ancient peoples had to survived amazing threats in a “dangerous universe (by superstition perceived as good and evil),” and human “immorality or imperfection of the soul” which was thought to affect the still living, leading to ancestor worship. This ancestor worship presumably led to the belief in supernatural beings, and then some of these were turned into the belief in gods. This feeble myth called gods were just a human conceived “made from nothing into something over and over, changing, again and again, taking on more as they evolve, all the while they are thought to be special,” but it is just supernatural animistic spirit-belief perceived as sacred.
Quick Evolution of Religion?
Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago) pre-religion is a beginning that evolves into later Animism. So, Religion as we think of it, to me, all starts in a general way with Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in supernatural powers/spirits), then this is physically expressed in or with Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in mythical relationship with powers/spirits through a totem item), which then enlists a full-time specific person to do this worship and believed interacting Shamanism (Siberia/Russia: 30,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in access and influence with spirits through ritual), and then there is the further employment of myths and gods added to all the above giving you Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago) (often a lot more nature-based than most current top world religions, thus hinting to their close link to more ancient religious thinking it stems from). My hypothesis is expressed with an explanation of the building of a theatrical house (modern religions development). Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago) with CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago).
Historically, in large city-state societies (such as Egypt or Iraq) starting around 5,000 years ago culminated to make religion something kind of new, a sociocultural-governmental-religious monarchy, where all or at least many of the people of such large city-state societies seem familiar with and committed to the existence of “religion” as the integrated life identity package of control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine, but this juggernaut integrated religion identity package of Dogmatic-Propaganda certainly did not exist or if developed to an extent it was highly limited in most smaller prehistoric societies as they seem to lack most of the strong control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine (magical beliefs could be at times be added or removed). Many people just want to see developed religious dynamics everywhere even if it is not. Instead, all that is found is largely fragments until the domestication of religion.
Religions, as we think of them today, are a new fad, even if they go back to around 6,000 years in the timeline of human existence, this amounts to almost nothing when seen in the long slow evolution of religion at least around 70,000 years ago with one of the oldest ritual worship. Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago. This message of how religion and gods among them are clearly a man-made thing that was developed slowly as it was invented and then implemented peace by peace discrediting them all. Which seems to be a simple point some are just not grasping how devastating to any claims of truth when we can see the lie clearly in the archeological sites.
I wish people fought as hard for the actual values as they fight for the group/clan names political or otherwise they think support values. Every amount spent on war is theft to children in need of food or the homeless kept from shelter.
Here are several of my blog posts on history:
- To Find Truth You Must First Look
- (Magdalenian/Iberomaurusian) Connections to the First Paganists of the early Neolithic Near East Dating from around 17,000 to 12,000 Years Ago
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- Possible Clan Leader/Special “MALE” Ancestor Totem Poles At Least 13,500 years ago?
- Jewish People with DNA at least 13,200 years old, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- Baltic Reindeer Hunters: Swiderian, Lyngby, Ahrensburgian, and Krasnosillya cultures 12,020 to 11,020 years ago are evidence of powerful migratory waves during the last 13,000 years and a genetic link to Saami and the Finno-Ugric peoples.
- The Rise of Inequality: patriarchy and state hierarchy inequality
- Fertile Crescent 12,500 – 9,500 Years Ago: fertility and death cult belief system?
- 12,400 – 11,700 Years Ago – Kortik Tepe (Turkey) Pre/early-Agriculture Cultic Ritualism
- Ritualistic Bird Symbolism at Gobekli Tepe and its “Ancestor Cult”
- Male-Homosexual (female-like) / Trans-woman (female) Seated Figurine from Gobekli Tepe
- Could a 12,000-year-old Bull Geoglyph at Göbekli Tepe relate to older Bull and Female Art 25,000 years ago and Later Goddess and the Bull cults like Catal Huyuk?
- Sedentism and the Creation of goddesses around 12,000 years ago as well as male gods after 7,000 years ago.
- Alcohol, where Agriculture and Religion Become one? Such as Gobekli Tepe’s Ritualistic use of Grain as Food and Ritual Drink
- Neolithic Ritual Sites with T-Pillars and other Cultic Pillars
- Paganism: Goddesses around 12,000 years ago then Male Gods after 7,000 years ago
- First Patriarchy: Split of Women’s Status around 12,000 years ago & First Hierarchy: fall of Women’s Status around 5,000 years ago.
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- J DNA and the Spread of Agricultural Religion (paganism)
- Paganism: an approximately 12,000-year-old belief system
- Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism)
- Shaman burial in Israel 12,000 years ago and the Shamanism Phenomena
- Need to Mythicized: gods and goddesses
- 12,000 – 7,000 Years Ago – Paleo-Indian Culture (The Americas)
- 12,000 – 2,000 Years Ago – Indigenous-Scandinavians (Nordic)
- Norse did not wear helmets with horns?
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic Skull Cult around 11,500 to 8,400 Years Ago?
- 10,400 – 10,100 Years Ago, in Turkey the Nevail Cori Religious Settlement
- 9,000-6,500 Years Old Submerged Pre-Pottery/Pottery Neolithic Ritual Settlements off Israel’s Coast
- Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city” around 9,500 to 7,700 years ago (Turkey)
- Cultic Hunting at Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city”
- Special Items and Art as well as Special Elite Burials at Catal Huyuk
- New Rituals and Violence with the appearance of Pottery and People?
- Haplogroup N and its related Uralic Languages and Cultures
- Ainu people, Sámi people, Native Americans, the Ancient North Eurasians, and Paganistic-Shamanism with Totemism
- Ideas, Technology and People from Turkey, Europe, to China and Back again 9,000 to 5,000 years ago?
- First Pottery of Europe and the Related Cultures
- 9,000 years old Neolithic Artifacts Judean Desert and Hills Israel
- 9,000-7,000 years-old Sex and Death Rituals: Cult Sites in Israel, Jordan, and the Sinai
- 9,000-8500 year old Horned Female shaman Bad Dürrenberg Germany
- Neolithic Jewelry and the Spread of Farming in Europe Emerging out of West Turkey
- 8,600-year-old Tortoise Shells in Neolithic graves in central China have Early Writing and Shamanism
- Swing of the Mace: the rise of Elite, Forced Authority, and Inequality begin to Emerge 8,500 years ago?
- Migrations and Changing Europeans Beginning around 8,000 Years Ago
- My “Steppe-Anatolian-Kurgan hypothesis” 8,000/7,000 years ago
- Around 8,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Mistress of Animals, “Ritual” Motif
- Pre-Columbian Red-Paint (red ochre) Maritime Archaic Culture 8,000-3,000 years ago
- 7,522-6,522 years ago Linear Pottery culture which I think relates to Arcane Capitalism’s origins
- Arcane Capitalism: Primitive socialism, Primitive capital, Private ownership, Means of production, Market capitalism, Class discrimination, and Petite bourgeoisie (smaller capitalists)
- 7,500-4,750 years old Ritualistic Cucuteni-Trypillian culture of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine
- Roots of a changing early society 7,200-6,700 years ago Jordan and Israel
- Agriculture religion (Paganism) with farming reached Britain between about 7,000 to 6,500 or so years ago and seemingly expressed in things like Western Europe’s Long Barrows
- My Thoughts on Possible Migrations of “R” DNA and Proto-Indo-European?
- “Millet” Spreading from China 7,022 years ago to Europe and related Language may have Spread with it leading to Proto-Indo-European
- Proto-Indo-European (PIE), ancestor of Indo-European languages: DNA, Society, Language, and Mythology
- The Dnieper–Donets culture and Asian varieties of Millet from China to the Black Sea region of Europe by 7,022 years ago
- Kurgan 6,000 years ago/dolmens 7,000 years ago: funeral, ritual, and other?
- 7,020 to 6,020-year-old Proto-Indo-European Homeland of Urheimat or proposed home of their Language and Religion
- Ancient Megaliths: Kurgan, Ziggurat, Pyramid, Menhir, Trilithon, Dolman, Kromlech, and Kromlech of Trilithons
- The Mytheme of Ancient North Eurasian Sacred-Dog belief and similar motifs are found in Indo-European, Native American, and Siberian comparative mythology
- Elite Power Accumulation: Ancient Trade, Tokens, Writing, Wealth, Merchants, and Priest-Kings
- Sacred Mounds, Mountains, Kurgans, and Pyramids may hold deep connections?
- Between 7,000-5,000 Years ago, rise of unequal hierarchy elite, leading to a “birth of the State” or worship of power, strong new sexism, oppression of non-elites, and the fall of Women’s equal status
- Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite & their slaves
- Hell and Underworld mythologies starting maybe as far back as 7,000 to 5,000 years ago with the Proto-Indo-Europeans?
- The First Expression of the Male God around 7,000 years ago?
- White (light complexion skin) Bigotry and Sexism started 7,000 years ago?
- Around 7,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Divine Bird (Tutelary and/or Trickster spirit/deity), “Ritual” Motif
- Nekhbet an Ancient Egyptian Vulture Goddess and Tutelary Deity
- 6,720 to 4,920 years old Ritualistic Hongshan Culture of Inner Mongolia with 5,000-year-old Pyramid Mounds and Temples
- First proto-king in the Balkans, Varna culture around 6,500 years ago?
- 6,500–5,800 years ago in Israel Late Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Period in the Southern Levant Seems to Express Northern Levant Migrations, Cultural and Religious Transfer
- KING OF BEASTS: Master of Animals “Ritual” Motif, around 6,000 years old or older…
- Around 6000-year-old Shared Idea of the Solid Wheel & the Spoked Wheel-Shaped Ritual Motif
- “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan; a Proto-Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna or Star of Venus?
- Religious/Ritual Ideas, including goddesses and gods as well as ritual mounds or pyramids from Northeastern Asia at least 6,000 years old, seemingly filtering to Iran, Iraq, the Mediterranean, Europe, Egypt, and the Americas?
- Maykop (5,720–5,020 years ago) Caucasus region Bronze Age culture-related to Copper Age farmers from the south, influenced by the Ubaid period and Leyla-Tepe culture, as well as influencing the Kura-Araxes culture
- 5-600-year-old Tomb, Mummy, and First Bearded Male Figurine in a Grave
- Kura-Araxes Cultural 5,520 to 4,470 years old DNA traces to the Canaanites, Arabs, and Jews
- Minoan/Cretan (Keftiu) Civilization and Religion around 5,520 to 3,120 years ago
- Evolution Of Science at least by 5,500 years ago
- 5,500 Years old birth of the State, the rise of Hierarchy, and the fall of Women’s status
- “Jiroft culture” 5,100 – 4,200 years ago and the History of Iran
- Stonehenge: Paganistic Burial and Astrological Ritual Complex, England (5,100-3,600 years ago)
- Around 5,000-year-old Shared Idea of the “Tree of Life” Ritual Motif
- Complex rituals for elite, seen from China to Egypt, at least by 5,000 years ago
- Around 5,000 years ago: “Birth of the State” where Religion gets Military Power and Influence
- The Center of the World “Axis Mundi” and/or “Sacred Mountains” Mythology Could Relate to the Altai Mountains, Heart of the Steppe
- Progressed organized religion starts, an approximately 5,000-year-old belief system
- China’s Civilization between 5,000-3,000 years ago, was a time of war and class struggle, violent transition from free clans to a Slave or Elite society
- Origin of Logics is Naturalistic Observation at least by around 5,000 years ago.
- Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State)
- Ziggurats (multi-platform temples: 4,900 years old) to Pyramids (multi-platform tombs: 4,700 years old)
- Did a 4,520–4,420-year-old Volcano In Turkey Inspire the Bible God?
- Finland’s Horned Shaman and Pre-Horned-God at least 4,500 years ago?
- 4,000-year-Old Dolmens in Israel: A Connected Dolmen Religious Phenomenon?
- Creation myths: From chaos, Ex nihilo, Earth-diver, Emergence, World egg, and World parent
- Bronze Age “Ritual” connections of the Bell Beaker culture with the Corded Ware/Single Grave culture, which were related to the Yamnaya culture and Proto-Indo-European Languages/Religions
- Low Gods (Earth/ Tutelary deity), High Gods (Sky/Supreme deity), and Moralistic Gods (Deity enforcement/divine order)
- The exchange of people, ideas, and material-culture including, to me, the new god (Sky Father) and goddess (Earth Mother) religion between the Cucuteni-Trypillians and others which is then spread far and wide
- Koryaks: Indigenous People of the Russian Far East and Big Raven myths also found in Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other Indigenous People of North America
- 42 Principles Of Maat (Egyptian Goddess of the justice) around 4,400 years ago, 2000 Years Before Ten Commandments
- “Happy Easter” Well Happy Eostre/Ishter
- 4,320-3,820 years old “Shimao” (North China) site with Totemistic-Shamanistic Paganism and a Stepped Pyramid
- 4,250 to 3,400 Year old Stonehenge from Russia: Arkaim?
- 4,100-year-old beaker with medicinal & flowering plants in a grave of a woman in Scotland
- Early European Farmer ancestry, Kelif el Boroud people with the Cardial Ware culture, and the Bell Beaker culture Paganists too, spread into North Africa, then to the Canary Islands off West Africa
- Flood Accounts: Gilgamesh epic (4,100 years ago) Noah in Genesis (2,600 years ago)
- Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)
- When was the beginning: TIMELINE OF CURRENT RELIGIONS, which start around 4,000 years ago.
- Early Religions Thought to Express Proto-Monotheistic Systems around 4,000 years ago
- Kultepe? An archaeological site with a 4,000 years old women’s rights document.
- Single God Religions (Monotheism) = “Man-o-theism” started around 4,000 years ago with the Great Sky Spirit/God Tiān (天)?
- Confucianism’s Tiān (Shangdi god 4,000 years old): Supernaturalism, Pantheism or Theism?
- Yes, Your Male God is Ridiculous
- Mythology, a Lunar Deity is a Goddess or God of the Moon
- Sacred Land, Hills, and Mountains: Sami Mythology (Paganistic Shamanism)
- Horse Worship/Sacrifice: mythical union of Ruling Elite/Kingship and the Horse
- The Amorite/Amurru people’s God Amurru “Lord of the Steppe”, relates to the Origins of the Bible God?
- Bronze Age Exotic Trade Routes Spread Quite Far as well as Spread Religious Ideas with Them
- Sami and the Northern Indigenous Peoples Landscape, Language, and its Connection to Religion
- Prototype of Ancient Analemmatic Sundials around 3,900-3,150 years ago and a Possible Solar Connection to gods?
- Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)
- The Weakening of Ancient Trade and the Strengthening of Religions around 3000 years ago?
- Are you aware that there are religions that worship women gods, explain now religion tears women down?
- Animistic, Totemistic, and Paganistic Superstition Origins of bible god and the bible’s Religion.
- Myths and Folklore: “Trickster gods and goddesses”
- Jews, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- An Old Branch of Religion Still Giving Fruit: Sacred Trees
- Dating the BIBLE: naming names and telling times (written less than 3,000 years ago, provable to 2,200 years ago)
- Did a Volcano Inspire the bible god?
- Dené–Yeniseian language, Old Copper Complex, and Pre-Columbian Mound Builders?
- No “dinosaurs and humans didn’t exist together just because some think they are in the bible itself”
- Sacred Shit and Sacred Animals?
- Everyone Killed in the Bible Flood? “Nephilim” (giants)?
- Hey, Damien dude, I have a question for you regarding “the bible” Exodus.
- Archaeology Disproves the Bible
- Bible Battle, Just More, Bible Babble
- The Jericho Conquest lie?
- Canaanites and Israelites?
- Accurate Account on how did Christianity Began?
- Let’s talk about Christianity.
- So the 10 commandments isn’t anything to go by either right?
- Misinformed christian
- Debunking Jesus?
- Paulism vs Jesus
- Ok, you seem confused so let’s talk about Buddhism.
- Unacknowledged Buddhism: Gods, Savior, Demons, Rebirth, Heavens, Hells, and Terrorism
- His Foolishness The Dalai Lama
- Yin and Yang is sexist with an ORIGIN around 2,300 years ago?
- I Believe Archaeology, not Myths & Why Not, as the Religious Myths Already Violate Reason!
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Aquatic Ape Theory/Hypothesis? As Always, Just Pseudoscience.
- Ancient Aliens Conspiracy Theorists are Pseudohistorians
- The Pseudohistoric and Pseudoscientific claims about “Bakoni Ruins” of South Africa
- Why do people think Religion is much more than supernaturalism and superstitionism?
- Religion is an Evolved Product
- Was the Value of Ancient Women Different?
- 1000 to 1100 CE, human sacrifice Cahokia Mounds a pre-Columbian Native American site
- Feminist atheists as far back as the 1800s?
- Promoting Religion as Real is Mentally Harmful to a Flourishing Humanity
- Screw All Religions and Their Toxic lies, they are all fraud
- Forget Religions’ Unfounded Myths, I Have Substantiated “Archaeology Facts.”
- Religion Dispersal throughout the World
- I Hate Religion Just as I Hate all Pseudoscience
- Exposing Scientology, Eckankar, Wicca and Other Nonsense?
- Main deity or religious belief systems
- Quit Trying to Invent Your God From the Scraps of Science.
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Ancient Alien Conspiracy Theorists: Misunderstanding, Rhetoric, Misinformation, Fabrications, and Lies
- Misinformation, Distortion, and Pseudoscience in Talking with a Christian Creationist
- Judging the Lack of Goodness in Gods, Even the Norse God Odin
- Challenging the Belief in God-like Aliens and Gods in General
- A Challenge to Christian use of Torture Devices?
- Yes, Hinduism is a Religion
- Trump is One of the Most Reactionary Forces of Far-right Christian Extremism
- Was the Bull Head a Symbol of God? Yes!
- Primate Death Rituals
- Christian – “God and Christianity are objectively true”
- Australopithecus afarensis Death Ritual?
- You Claim Global Warming is a Hoax?
- Doubter of Science and Defamer of Atheists?
- I think that sounds like the Bible?
- History of the Antifa (“anti-fascist”) Movements
- Indianapolis Anti-Blasphemy Laws #Free Soheil Rally
- Damien, you repeat the golden rule in so many forms then you say religion is dogmatic?
- Science is a Trustable Methodology whereas Faith is not Trustable at all!
- Was I ever a believer, before I was an atheist?
- Atheists rise in reason
- Mistrust of science?
- Open to Talking About the Definition of ‘God’? But first, we address Faith.
- ‘United Monarchy’ full of splendor and power – Saul, David, and Solomon? Most likely not.
- Is there EXODUS ARCHAEOLOGY? The short answer is “no.”
- Lacking Proof of Bigfoots, Unicorns, and Gods is Just a Lack of Research?
- Religion and Politics: Faith Beliefs vs. Rational Thinking
- Hammer of Truth that lying pig RELIGION: challenged by an archaeologist
- “The Hammer of Truth” -ontology question- What do You Mean by That?
- Navigation of a bad argument: Ad Hominem vs. Attack
- Why is it Often Claimed that Gods have a Gender?
- Why are basically all monotheistic religions ones that have a male god?
- Shifting through the Claims in support of Faith
- Dear Mr. AtHope, The 20th Century is an Indictment of Secularism and a Failed Atheist Century
- An Understanding of the Worldwide Statistics and Dynamics of Terrorist Incidents and Suicide Attacks
- Intoxication and Evolution? Addressing and Assessing the “Stoned Ape” or “Drunken Monkey” Theories as Catalysts in Human Evolution
- Sacred Menstrual cloth? Inanna’s knot, Isis knot, and maybe Ma’at’s feather?
- Damien, why don’t the Hebrews accept the bible stories?
- Dealing with a Troll and Arguing Over Word Meaning
- Knowledge without Belief? Justified beliefs or disbeliefs worthy of Knowledge?
- Afrocentrism and African Religions
- Crecganford @crecganford offers history & stories of the people, places, gods, & culture
- Empiricism-Denier?
I am not an academic. I am a revolutionary that teaches in public, in places like social media, and in the streets. I am not a leader by some title given but from my commanding leadership style of simply to start teaching everywhere to everyone, all manner of positive education.
To me, Animism starts in Southern Africa, then to West Europe, and becomes Totemism. Another split goes near the Russia and Siberia border becoming Shamanism, which heads into Central Europe meeting up with Totemism, which also had moved there, mixing the two which then heads to Lake Baikal in Siberia. From there this Shamanism-Totemism heads to Turkey where it becomes Paganism.
Not all “Religions” or “Religious Persuasions” have a god(s) but
All can be said to believe in some imaginary beings or imaginary things like spirits, afterlives, etc.
Paganism 12,000-4,000 years old
12,000-7,000 years old: related to (Pre-Capitalism)
7,000-5,000 years old: related to (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
5,000 years old: related to (Kings and the Rise of the State)
4,000 years old: related to (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)
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Low Gods “Earth” or Tutelary deity and High Gods “Sky” or Supreme deity
“An Earth goddess is a deification of the Earth. Earth goddesses are often associated with the “chthonic” deities of the underworld. Ki and Ninhursag are Mesopotamian earth goddesses. In Greek mythology, the Earth is personified as Gaia, corresponding to Roman Terra, Indic Prithvi/Bhūmi, etc. traced to an “Earth Mother” complementary to the “Sky Father” in Proto-Indo-European religion. Egyptian mythology exceptionally has a sky goddess and an Earth god.” ref
“A mother goddess is a goddess who represents or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction or who embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother. In some religious traditions or movements, Heavenly Mother (also referred to as Mother in Heaven or Sky Mother) is the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky father or God the Father.” ref
“Any masculine sky god is often also king of the gods, taking the position of patriarch within a pantheon. Such king gods are collectively categorized as “sky father” deities, with a polarity between sky and earth often being expressed by pairing a “sky father” god with an “earth mother” goddess (pairings of a sky mother with an earth father are less frequent). A main sky goddess is often the queen of the gods and may be an air/sky goddess in her own right, though she usually has other functions as well with “sky” not being her main. In antiquity, several sky goddesses in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Near East were called Queen of Heaven. Neopagans often apply it with impunity to sky goddesses from other regions who were never associated with the term historically. The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky.” ref
“In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a “father”, often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The concept of “sky father” may also be taken to include Sun gods with similar characteristics, such as Ra. The concept is complementary to an “earth mother“. “Sky Father” is a direct translation of the Vedic Dyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the same Proto-Indo-European deity name as the Greek Zeûs Pater and Roman Jupiter and Germanic Týr, Tir or Tiwaz, all of which are reflexes of the same Proto-Indo-European deity’s name, *Dyēus Ph₂tḗr. While there are numerous parallels adduced from outside of Indo-European mythology, there are exceptions (e.g. In Egyptian mythology, Nut is the sky mother and Geb is the earth father).” ref
Tutelary deity
“A tutelary (also tutelar) is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of “tutelary” expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship. In late Greek and Roman religion, one type of tutelary deity, the genius, functions as the personal deity or daimon of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the familiar spirit of European folklore.” ref
“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Korean shamanism, jangseung and sotdae were placed at the edge of villages to frighten off demons. They were also worshiped as deities. Seonangshin is the patron deity of the village in Korean tradition and was believed to embody the Seonangdang. In Philippine animism, Diwata or Lambana are deities or spirits that inhabit sacred places like mountains and mounds and serve as guardians. Such as: Maria Makiling is the deity who guards Mt. Makiling and Maria Cacao and Maria Sinukuan. In Shinto, the spirits, or kami, which give life to human bodies come from nature and return to it after death. Ancestors are therefore themselves tutelaries to be worshiped. And similarly, Native American beliefs such as Tonás, tutelary animal spirit among the Zapotec and Totems, familial or clan spirits among the Ojibwe, can be animals.” ref
“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Austronesian beliefs such as: Atua (gods and spirits of the Polynesian peoples such as the Māori or the Hawaiians), Hanitu (Bunun of Taiwan‘s term for spirit), Hyang (Kawi, Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese Supreme Being, in ancient Java and Bali mythology and this spiritual entity, can be either divine or ancestral), Kaitiaki (New Zealand Māori term used for the concept of guardianship, for the sky, the sea, and the land), Kawas (mythology) (divided into 6 groups: gods, ancestors, souls of the living, spirits of living things, spirits of lifeless objects, and ghosts), Tiki (Māori mythology, Tiki is the first man created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne and represents deified ancestors found in most Polynesian cultures). ” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Mesopotamian Tutelary Deities can be seen as ones related to City-States
“Historical city-states included Sumerian cities such as Uruk and Ur; Ancient Egyptian city-states, such as Thebes and Memphis; the Phoenician cities (such as Tyre and Sidon); the five Philistine city-states; the Berber city-states of the Garamantes; the city-states of ancient Greece (the poleis such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth); the Roman Republic (which grew from a city-state into a vast empire); the Italian city-states from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, such as Florence, Siena, Ferrara, Milan (which as they grew in power began to dominate neighboring cities) and Genoa and Venice, which became powerful thalassocracies; the Mayan and other cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (including cities such as Chichen Itza, Tikal, Copán and Monte Albán); the central Asian cities along the Silk Road; the city-states of the Swahili coast; Ragusa; states of the medieval Russian lands such as Novgorod and Pskov; and many others.” ref
“The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BCE; also known as Protoliterate period) of Mesopotamia, named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. City-States like Uruk and others had a patron tutelary City Deity along with a Priest-King.” ref
“Chinese folk religion, both past, and present, includes myriad tutelary deities. Exceptional individuals, highly cultivated sages, and prominent ancestors can be deified and honored after death. Lord Guan is the patron of military personnel and police, while Mazu is the patron of fishermen and sailors. Such as Tu Di Gong (Earth Deity) is the tutelary deity of a locality, and each individual locality has its own Earth Deity and Cheng Huang Gong (City God) is the guardian deity of an individual city, worshipped by local officials and locals since imperial times.” ref
“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Hinduism, personal tutelary deities are known as ishta-devata, while family tutelary deities are known as Kuladevata. Gramadevata are guardian deities of villages. Devas can also be seen as tutelary. Shiva is the patron of yogis and renunciants. City goddesses include: Mumbadevi (Mumbai), Sachchika (Osian); Kuladevis include: Ambika (Porwad), and Mahalakshmi. In NorthEast India Meitei mythology and religion (Sanamahism) of Manipur, there are various types of tutelary deities, among which Lam Lais are the most predominant ones. Tibetan Buddhism has Yidam as a tutelary deity. Dakini is the patron of those who seek knowledge.” ref
“A tutelary (also tutelar) The Greeks also thought deities guarded specific places: for instance, Athena was the patron goddess of the city of Athens. Socrates spoke of hearing the voice of his personal spirit or daimonion:
You have often heard me speak of an oracle or sign which comes to me … . This sign I have had ever since I was a child. The sign is a voice which comes to me and always forbids me to do something which I am going to do, but never commands me to do anything, and this is what stands in the way of my being a politician.” ref
“Tutelary deities who guard and preserve a place or a person are fundamental to ancient Roman religion. The tutelary deity of a man was his Genius, that of a woman her Juno. In the Imperial era, the Genius of the Emperor was a focus of Imperial cult. An emperor might also adopt a major deity as his personal patron or tutelary, as Augustus did Apollo. Precedents for claiming the personal protection of a deity were established in the Republican era, when for instance the Roman dictator Sulla advertised the goddess Victory as his tutelary by holding public games (ludi) in her honor.” ref
“Each town or city had one or more tutelary deities, whose protection was considered particularly vital in time of war and siege. Rome itself was protected by a goddess whose name was to be kept ritually secret on pain of death (for a supposed case, see Quintus Valerius Soranus). The Capitoline Triad of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva were also tutelaries of Rome. The Italic towns had their own tutelary deities. Juno often had this function, as at the Latin town of Lanuvium and the Etruscan city of Veii, and was often housed in an especially grand temple on the arx (citadel) or other prominent or central location. The tutelary deity of Praeneste was Fortuna, whose oracle was renowned.” ref
“The Roman ritual of evocatio was premised on the belief that a town could be made vulnerable to military defeat if the power of its tutelary deity were diverted outside the city, perhaps by the offer of superior cult at Rome. The depiction of some goddesses such as the Magna Mater (Great Mother, or Cybele) as “tower-crowned” represents their capacity to preserve the city. A town in the provinces might adopt a deity from within the Roman religious sphere to serve as its guardian, or syncretize its own tutelary with such; for instance, a community within the civitas of the Remi in Gaul adopted Apollo as its tutelary, and at the capital of the Remi (present-day Rheims), the tutelary was Mars Camulus.” ref
Household deity (a kind of or related to a Tutelary deity)
“A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit into two types; firstly, a specific deity – typically a goddess – often referred to as a hearth goddess or domestic goddess who is associated with the home and hearth, such as the ancient Greek Hestia.” ref
“The second type of household deities are those that are not one singular deity, but a type, or species of animistic deity, who usually have lesser powers than major deities. This type was common in the religions of antiquity, such as the Lares of ancient Roman religion, the Gashin of Korean shamanism, and Cofgodas of Anglo-Saxon paganism. These survived Christianisation as fairy-like creatures existing in folklore, such as the Anglo-Scottish Brownie and Slavic Domovoy.” ref
“Household deities were usually worshipped not in temples but in the home, where they would be represented by small idols (such as the teraphim of the Bible, often translated as “household gods” in Genesis 31:19 for example), amulets, paintings, or reliefs. They could also be found on domestic objects, such as cosmetic articles in the case of Tawaret. The more prosperous houses might have a small shrine to the household god(s); the lararium served this purpose in the case of the Romans. The gods would be treated as members of the family and invited to join in meals, or be given offerings of food and drink.” ref
“In many religions, both ancient and modern, a god would preside over the home. Certain species, or types, of household deities, existed. An example of this was the Roman Lares. Many European cultures retained house spirits into the modern period. Some examples of these include:
- Brownie (Scotland and England) or Hob (England) / Kobold (Germany) / Goblin / Hobgoblin
- Domovoy (Slavic)
- Nisse (Norwegian or Danish) / Tomte (Swedish) / Tonttu (Finnish)
- Húsvættir (Norse)” ref
“Although the cosmic status of household deities was not as lofty as that of the Twelve Olympians or the Aesir, they were also jealous of their dignity and also had to be appeased with shrines and offerings, however humble. Because of their immediacy they had arguably more influence on the day-to-day affairs of men than the remote gods did. Vestiges of their worship persisted long after Christianity and other major religions extirpated nearly every trace of the major pagan pantheons. Elements of the practice can be seen even today, with Christian accretions, where statues to various saints (such as St. Francis) protect gardens and grottos. Even the gargoyles found on older churches, could be viewed as guardians partitioning a sacred space.” ref
“For centuries, Christianity fought a mop-up war against these lingering minor pagan deities, but they proved tenacious. For example, Martin Luther‘s Tischreden have numerous – quite serious – references to dealing with kobolds. Eventually, rationalism and the Industrial Revolution threatened to erase most of these minor deities, until the advent of romantic nationalism rehabilitated them and embellished them into objects of literary curiosity in the 19th century. Since the 20th century this literature has been mined for characters for role-playing games, video games, and other fantasy personae, not infrequently invested with invented traits and hierarchies somewhat different from their mythological and folkloric roots.” ref
“In contradistinction to both Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, who defended theories of animistic origins of ancestor worship, Émile Durkheim saw its origin in totemism. In reality, this distinction is somewhat academic, since totemism may be regarded as a particularized manifestation of animism, and something of a synthesis of the two positions was attempted by Sigmund Freud. In Freud’s Totem and Taboo, both totem and taboo are outward expressions or manifestations of the same psychological tendency, a concept which is complementary to, or which rather reconciles, the apparent conflict. Freud preferred to emphasize the psychoanalytic implications of the reification of metaphysical forces, but with particular emphasis on its familial nature. This emphasis underscores, rather than weakens, the ancestral component.” ref
“William Edward Hearn, a noted classicist, and jurist, traced the origin of domestic deities from the earliest stages as an expression of animism, a belief system thought to have existed also in the neolithic, and the forerunner of Indo-European religion. In his analysis of the Indo-European household, in Chapter II “The House Spirit”, Section 1, he states:
The belief which guided the conduct of our forefathers was … the spirit rule of dead ancestors.” ref
“In Section 2 he proceeds to elaborate:
It is thus certain that the worship of deceased ancestors is a vera causa, and not a mere hypothesis. …
In the other European nations, the Slavs, the Teutons, and the Kelts, the House Spirit appears with no less distinctness. … [T]he existence of that worship does not admit of doubt. … The House Spirits had a multitude of other names which it is needless here to enumerate, but all of which are more or less expressive of their friendly relations with man. … In [England] … [h]e is the Brownie. … In Scotland this same Brownie is well known. He is usually described as attached to particular families, with whom he has been known to reside for centuries, threshing the corn, cleaning the house, and performing similar household tasks. His favorite gratification was milk and honey.” ref
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“These ideas are my speculations from the evidence.”
I am still researching the “god‘s origins” all over the world. So you know, it is very complicated but I am smart and willing to look, DEEP, if necessary, which going very deep does seem to be needed here, when trying to actually understand the evolution of gods and goddesses. I am sure of a few things and less sure of others, but even in stuff I am not fully grasping I still am slowly figuring it out, to explain it to others. But as I research more I am understanding things a little better, though I am still working on understanding it all or something close and thus always figuring out more.
Sky Father/Sky God?
“Egyptian: (Nut) Sky Mother and (Geb) Earth Father” (Egypt is different but similar)
Turkic/Mongolic: (Tengri/Tenger Etseg) Sky Father and (Eje/Gazar Eej) Earth Mother *Transeurasian*
Hawaiian: (Wākea) Sky Father and (Papahānaumoku) Earth Mother *Austronesian*
New Zealand/ Māori: (Ranginui) Sky Father and (Papatūānuku) Earth Mother *Austronesian*
Proto-Indo-European: (Dyḗus/Dyḗus ph₂tḗr) Sky Father and (Dʰéǵʰōm/Pleth₂wih₁) Earth Mother
Indo-Aryan: (Dyaus Pita) Sky Father and (Prithvi Mata) Earth Mother *Indo-European*
Italic: (Jupiter) Sky Father and (Juno) Sky Mother *Indo-European*
Etruscan: (Tinia) Sky Father and (Uni) Sky Mother *Tyrsenian/Italy Pre–Indo-European*
Hellenic/Greek: (Zeus) Sky Father and (Hera) Sky Mother who started as an “Earth Goddess” *Indo-European*
Nordic: (Dagr) Sky Father and (Nótt) Sky Mother *Indo-European*
Slavic: (Perun) Sky Father and (Mokosh) Earth Mother *Indo-European*
Illyrian: (Deipaturos) Sky Father and (Messapic Damatura’s “earth-mother” maybe) Earth Mother *Indo-European*
Albanian: (Zojz) Sky Father and (?) *Indo-European*
Baltic: (Perkūnas) Sky Father and (Saulė) Sky Mother *Indo-European*
Germanic: (Týr) Sky Father and (?) *Indo-European*
Colombian-Muisca: (Bochica) Sky Father and (Huythaca) Sky Mother *Chibchan*
Aztec: (Quetzalcoatl) Sky Father and (Xochiquetzal) Sky Mother *Uto-Aztecan*
Incan: (Viracocha) Sky Father and (Mama Runtucaya) Sky Mother *Quechuan*
China: (Tian/Shangdi) Sky Father and (Dì) Earth Mother *Sino-Tibetan*
Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian: (An/Anu) Sky Father and (Ki) Earth Mother
Finnish: (Ukko) Sky Father and (Akka) Earth Mother *Finno-Ugric*
Sami: (Horagalles) Sky Father and (Ravdna) Earth Mother *Finno-Ugric*
Puebloan-Zuni: (Ápoyan Ta’chu) Sky Father and (Áwitelin Tsíta) Earth Mother
Puebloan-Hopi: (Tawa) Sky Father and (Kokyangwuti/Spider Woman/Grandmother) Earth Mother *Uto-Aztecan*
Puebloan-Navajo: (Tsohanoai) Sky Father and (Estsanatlehi) Earth Mother *Na-Dene*
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Hinduism around 3,700 to 3,500 years old. ref
Judaism around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (The first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew” dated to around 3,000 years ago Khirbet Qeiyafa is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley. And many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed around 2,500) ref, ref
Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)
“Judaism is an Abrahamic, its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Some scholars argue that modern Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah, by the late 6th century BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions.” ref
“Yahwism is the name given by modern scholars to the religion of ancient Israel, essentially polytheistic, with a plethora of gods and goddesses. Heading the pantheon was Yahweh, the national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah, with his consort, the goddess Asherah; below them were second-tier gods and goddesses such as Baal, Shamash, Yarikh, Mot, and Astarte, all of whom had their own priests and prophets and numbered royalty among their devotees, and a third and fourth tier of minor divine beings, including the mal’ak, the messengers of the higher gods, who in later times became the angels of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Yahweh, however, was not the ‘original’ god of Israel “Isra-El”; it is El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name forms the basis of the name “Israel”, and none of the Old Testament patriarchs, the tribes of Israel, the Judges, or the earliest monarchs, have a Yahwistic theophoric name (i.e., one incorporating the name of Yahweh).” ref
“El is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity“, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ‘ila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-, meaning “god”. Specific deities known as ‘El or ‘Il include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Mesopotamia’s Early Dynastic Period. ʼĒl is listed at the head of many pantheons. In some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, ʼĒl played a role as father of the gods, of creation, or both. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, ʾil mlk is understood to mean “ʼĒl the King” but ʾil hd as “the god Hadad“. The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh, Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning “gods” is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm “powers”. In the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for “god” by biblical commentators. However the documentary hypothesis for the Old Testament (corresponds to the Jewish Torah) developed originally in the 1870s, identifies these that different authors – the Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and the Priestly source – were responsible for editing stories from a polytheistic religion into those of a monotheistic religion. Inconsistencies that arise between monotheism and polytheism in the texts are reflective of this hypothesis.” ref
Jainism around 2,599 – 2,527 years old. ref
Confucianism around 2,600 – 2,551 years old. ref
Buddhism around 2,563/2,480 – 2,483/2,400 years old. ref
Christianity around 2,o00 years old. ref
Shinto around 1,305 years old. ref
Islam around 1407–1385 years old. ref
Knowledge to Ponder:
Stars/Astrology:
- Possibly, around 30,000 years ago (in simpler form) to 6,000 years ago, Stars/Astrology are connected to Ancestors, Spirit Animals, and Deities.
- The star also seems to be a possible proto-star for Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna, or Star of Venus.
- Around 7,000 to 6,000 years ago, Star Constellations/Astrology have connections to the “Kurgan phenomenon” of below-ground “mound” stone/wood burial structures and “Dolmen phenomenon” of above-ground stone burial structures.
- Around 6,500–5,800 years ago, The Northern Levant migrations into Jordon and Israel in the Southern Levant brought new cultural and religious transfer from Turkey and Iran.
- “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan may have connections to the European paganstic kurgan/dolmens phenomenon.
“Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamicate world and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person’s personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.” ref
Around 5,500 years ago, Science evolves, The first evidence of science was 5,500 years ago and was demonstrated by a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural world. ref
Around 5,000 years ago, Origin of Logics is a Naturalistic Observation (principles of valid reasoning, inference, & demonstration) ref
Around 4,150 to 4,000 years ago: The earliest surviving versions of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, which was originally titled “He who Saw the Deep” (Sha naqba īmuru) or “Surpassing All Other Kings” (Shūtur eli sharrī) were written. ref
Hinduism:
- 3,700 years ago or so, the oldest of the Hindu Vedas (scriptures), the Rig Veda was composed.
- 3,500 years ago or so, the Vedic Age began in India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Judaism:
- around 3,000 years ago, the first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew”
- around 2,500 years ago, many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed
Myths: The bible inspired religion is not just one religion or one myth but a grouping of several religions and myths
- Around 3,450 or 3,250 years ago, according to legend, is the traditionally accepted period in which the Israelite lawgiver, Moses, provided the Ten Commandments.
- Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, a collection of ancient religious writings by the Israelites based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament is the first part of Christianity’s bible.
- Around 2,400 years ago, the most accepted hypothesis is that the canon was formed in stages, first the Pentateuch (Torah).
- Around 2,140 to 2,116 years ago, the Prophets was written during the Hasmonean dynasty, and finally the remaining books.
- Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections:
- The first five books or Pentateuch (Torah).
- The proposed history books telling the history of the Israelites from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon.
- The poetic and proposed “Wisdom books” dealing, in various forms, with questions of good and evil in the world.
- The books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God:
- Henotheism:
- Exodus 20:23 “You shall not make other gods besides Me (not saying there are no other gods just not to worship them); gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.”
- Polytheism:
- Judges 10:6 “Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:5 “For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords.”
- Monotheism:
- Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
Around 2,570 to 2,270 Years Ago, there is a confirmation of atheistic doubting as well as atheistic thinking, mainly by Greek philosophers. However, doubting gods is likely as old as the invention of gods and should destroy the thinking that belief in god(s) is the “default belief”. The Greek word is apistos (a “not” and pistos “faithful,”), thus not faithful or faithless because one is unpersuaded and unconvinced by a god(s) claim. Short Definition: unbelieving, unbeliever, or unbelief.
Expressions of Atheistic Thinking:
- Around 2,600 years ago, Ajita Kesakambali, ancient Indian philosopher, who is the first known proponent of Indian materialism. ref
- Around 2,535 to 2,475 years ago, Heraclitus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor or modern Turkey. ref
- Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, according to The Story of Civilization book series certain African pygmy tribes have no identifiable gods, spirits, or religious beliefs or rituals, and even what burials accrue are without ceremony. ref
- Around 2,490 to 2,430 years ago, Empedocles, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. ref
- Around 2,460 to 2,370 years ago, Democritus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher considered to be the “father of modern science” possibly had some disbelief amounting to atheism. ref
- Around 2,399 years ago or so, Socrates, a famous Greek philosopher was tried for sinfulness by teaching doubt of state gods. ref
- Around 2,341 to 2,270 years ago, Epicurus, a Greek philosopher known for composing atheistic critics and famously stated, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?” ref
This last expression by Epicurus, seems to be an expression of Axiological Atheism. To understand and utilize value or actually possess “Value Conscious/Consciousness” to both give a strong moral “axiological” argument (the problem of evil) as well as use it to fortify humanism and positive ethical persuasion of human helping and care responsibilities. Because value-blindness gives rise to sociopathic/psychopathic evil.
“Theists, there has to be a god, as something can not come from nothing.”
Well, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something. This does not tell us what the something that may have been involved with something coming from nothing. A supposed first cause, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something is not an open invitation to claim it as known, neither is it justified to call or label such an unknown as anything, especially an unsubstantiated magical thinking belief born of mythology and religious storytelling.
While hallucinogens are associated with shamanism, it is alcohol that is associated with paganism.
The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:
Show two: Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show tree: Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show four: Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show five: Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show six: Emergence of hierarchy, sexism, slavery, and the new male god dominance: Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses: VIDEO
Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism): VIDEO
Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves: VIEDO
Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State): VIEDO
Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): VIEDO
I do not hate simply because I challenge and expose myths or lies any more than others being thought of as loving simply because of the protection and hiding from challenge their favored myths or lies.
The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.
An archaeologist once said to me “Damien religion and culture are very different”
My response, So are you saying that was always that way, such as would you say Native Americans’ cultures are separate from their religions? And do you think it always was the way you believe?
I had said that religion was a cultural product. That is still how I see it and there are other archaeologists that think close to me as well. Gods too are the myths of cultures that did not understand science or the world around them, seeing magic/supernatural everywhere.
I personally think there is a goddess and not enough evidence to support a male god at Çatalhöyük but if there was both a male and female god and goddess then I know the kind of gods they were like Proto-Indo-European mythology.
This series idea was addressed in, Anarchist Teaching as Free Public Education or Free Education in the Public: VIDEO
Our 12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago), is adapted from: The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFjxmY7jQA by “History with Cy“
Show #1: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid)
Show #2: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power
Show #3: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Uruk and the First Cities)
Show #4: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (First Kings)
Show #5: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Early Dynastic Period)
Show #6: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power
Show #7: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Sargon and Akkadian Rule)
Show #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)
Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)
The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.
Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?
Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.
I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.
Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.
At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.
Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)
Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft
Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie
Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.
Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”
I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist.
To me, the “male god” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 7,000 years ago, whereas the now favored monotheism “male god” is more like 4,000 years ago or so. To me, the “female goddess” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 11,000-10,000 years ago or so, losing the majority of its once prominence around 2,000 years ago due largely to the now favored monotheism “male god” that grow in prominence after 4,000 years ago or so.
My Thought on the Evolution of Gods?
Animal protector deities from old totems/spirit animal beliefs come first to me, 13,000/12,000 years ago, then women as deities 11,000/10,000 years ago, then male gods around 7,000/8,000 years ago. Moralistic gods around 5,000/4,000 years ago, and monotheistic gods around 4,000/3,000 years ago.
To me, animal gods were likely first related to totemism animals around 13,000 to 12,000 years ago or older. Female as goddesses was next to me, 11,000 to 10,000 years ago or so with the emergence of agriculture. Then male gods come about 8,000 to 7,000 years ago with clan wars. Many monotheism-themed religions started in henotheism, emerging out of polytheism/paganism.
Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):
Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism
My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com