A study on shaman costume from the perspective of Siberian shamanism spiritual culture

Abstract

This study interprets Siberian shaman costumes from the perspective of Siberian shamanism’s spiritual culture by combining theoretical and empirical studies. According to the natural environment and language families, the Siberian people are classified into the Altai, Tungus, Ural, and Paleo-Siberian groups. Se Yin’s research classifies the spiritual culture of Siberian shamanism as cosmic, spiritual, and nature view. Eliade’s research has divided Siberian shaman costumes into form, headdress, and ornament. According to the present study, shaman costume form and decoration reflect the Siberian three-tiered cosmic view, such that the shaman’s head, body and feet correspond to the upperworld, middleworld and underworld. In addition, animism, totemism and ancestral worship appear in the shamanism’s spiritual view. For example, the costume’s form shows the totem of each tribe, while the costume accessories reflect animal worship, plant worship and ancestral worship. Finally, shamanism’s nature view mainly manifests through three processes: personification, deification, and ethics. As an intermediary between man and the spirits, shaman use their clothing to reproduce the image of half man and half spirit. The shaman’s costumes are deified and considered to have divine power. For example, the animals represented on the costume help the shaman travel through space. Generally, good animals help a shaman enter the upperworld, while animals that help a shaman enter the underworld are considered evil. Also, the number of hanging accessories represents the shaman’s ability.