RITUALS

Rituals: translation

A central function of many shamans is to conduct or preside over rituals. While much attention has been devoted to rituals in which shamans aloneperform—for example, ashealersandjourneyerstoother worlds—they also play significant roles in community ceremonies and rites of passage in many cultures. Shamans may even be defined as the repositories of the knowledge of the conduct of ceremonies. Such knowledge is likely to be learned from other shamans and frominitiatoryotherworld orother-than-human persons.