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Shaman facts for kids

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SB - Altay shaman with drum
Russian postcard based on a photo taken in 1908 by S.I. Borisov, showing a female shaman, of probable Khakas ethnicity.

A shaman is a kind of medicine man who practices shamanism. Shamans were believed to be able to talk to the spirit world, usually animal spirits. The job of the shamans are believed to be is healing, weather control or any other supernatural stuff. In some tribes shamanism is important such as the Yanomamis (a Venezuelan tribe in the Venezuelan forest) A shaman was a person who had a special connection to the spiritual world..

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Images for kids

  • Witsen's Shaman

    The earliest known depiction of a Siberian shaman, drawn by the Dutch explorer Nicolaes Witsen, who wrote an account of his travels among Samoyedic- and Tungusic-speaking peoples in 1692. Witsen labelled the illustration as a "Priest of the Devil," giving this figure clawed feet to express what he thought were demonic qualities.

  • COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een shamaan op Zuid-Boeroe bezweert boze geesten de kinderen te verlaten waarbij hij een geldstuk en een sirihnoot offert TMnr 10001031

    South Moluccan Shaman exorcising evil spirits occupying children, Buru, Indonesia. (1920)

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    Flowering San Pedro, an entheogenic cactus that has been used for over 3,000 years. Today the vast majority of extracted mescaline is from columnar cacti, not vulnerable peyote.

  • Raven Rattle, 19th century, 05.588.7292

    Raven Rattle, 19th century, Brooklyn Museum

  • Goldes shaman priest in his regalia

    Goldes shaman priest in his regalia

  • Shaman

    Sami shaman with his drum

  • Kyzyl Shaman

    A recent photograph: shaman doctor of Kyzyl, 2005. (Details missing). Attempts are being made to preserve and revitalize Tuvan shamanism: former authentic shamans have begun to practice again, and young apprentices are being educated in an organized way.

  • COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een dukun tijdens de bereiding van zijn geneesmiddelen TMnr 60027035

    Indonesian Dukun

  • Bobohizans

    Bobohizan of North Borneo, circa 1921.

  • Chuonnasuan, the last shaman of the Oroqen, in July 1994 (Photo by Richard Noll)

    Oroqen shaman of northern China.

  • Sami shamanic drum

    Sami shamanic drum in the Arktikum Science Museum, in Rovaniemi, Finland

  • Yupik shaman Nushagak

    Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy, Nushagak, Alaska, 1890s. Nushagak, located on Nushagak Bay of the Bering Sea in southwest Alaska, is part of the territory of the Yup'ik, speakers of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language

  • White indian conjuror

    Native American "conjuror" in a 1590 engraving

  • Mayan priest performing healing

    Maya priest performing a healing ritual at Tikal.

  • Body of Maroon child brought before medicine man, 1955

    Body of Ndyuka Maroon child brought before medicine man, Suriname River, Suriname, South America

  • Chaman amazonie 5 06

    Shaman from the shuara culture in Ecuador Amazonian forest, June 2006

  • Urarina shaman B Dean

    Urarina shaman, 1988

  • Sangoma performing a Baptism

    Sangoma/Inyanga performing a traditional baptism on a baby in order to protect the spirit of the baby, Johannesburg, South Africa

  • Shaman tableau

    A tableau presenting figures of various cultures filling in mediator-like roles, often being termed as "shaman" in the literature. The tableau presents the diversity of this concept.

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