BEAR CEREMONIALISM

Among manyNative American, NorthernEuropean, andSiberiancommunities, manyritualsform part of a complex of “bear ceremonialism.”Marjorie Balzer, for example, draws out the diversities and social tensions involved in what she describes as the complex’s most elaborate form, as practiced among the Ob-Ugrian peoples of Western Siberia and the groups living along the Amur River, which forms the border between Siberia andChina. She writes, “In both regions, the skin and head of a ritually killed bear are placed on a sacred bier and fêted for multiple days.” Carnivalesque celebrations, including satirical plays, cross-dressing, uncharacteristic female license, and general bawdiness provide a context in which social tensions are played out, if not resolved.Although shamans are forbidden to shamanize during the festival as celebrated on the Amur, probably because their role asmediatorsbetween humans andotherworldpersons is diffused throughout the community, they indicate auspicious timing for the event. Leadership in ritual and communal events, including engaging withother-thanhumanpersons, is taken byelders, while the events illustrate the broaderanimistritual and social context in which shamans work.Juha Pentikäinenpresents important discussions of bear cults and folklore in both Finnish andSaamicultures. He notes, for example, that there are more than 200 synonyms forbearin Finnish, but the actual word was rarely spoken since to do so might provoke an assault by bears. As elsewhere, suchtaboorestrictions are part of the broad animist context in which shamans are employed.

Similar bear ceremonial and discursive complexes could be illustrated with reference to many Native American cultures. Bears play significant roles inOjibwe initiatoryandhealingrituals such as theMidewiwin, for instance. This involves bear impersonation by both the shaman presiding over the ritual and initiates, and also participation by otherworld bears as initiators and tempters. In their tricksterlikeambiguity, bears reveal their kinship with shamans and creative beings.Gerald Vizenorextends traditional storytelling into urban contexts in a number of his stories about shamans, bears, and “postindian” mixed-blood people. Ojibwe bear narratives and ceremonials (like those that include otheranimals) arise from a widertotemism. “Bear shamans” among California indigenous communities may be either shamans who impersonate bears by wearing acostumeincluding a bearskin or shamans who gain the ability totransforminto bears. Sandra Holliman is particularly interested in these shamans’ roles as agents of social control, due to the fear inspired by their reputations and uncertainty about their identities or whereabouts. However, she also alludes to other, more positive, abilities, including the fact that they are considereddoctors.