The article studies the life path of the last Selkup shaman G.E. Mandakov, widely known among the Selkups. The topic of well-known representatives of the people among the Selkups remains little studied, which determines its scientific significance and novelty. The relevance of the topic is related to the importance of preserving the history and culture of the Selkups. The results of the study were the following conclusions. Mandakov, having the inclinations of a shaman and shamanic heredity, could not go through the initiation rite, learn shamanic skills from shamans of his own kind and receive tribal helper spirits. To engage in shamanistic activity, he used an incomplete set of attributes of the deceased shaman, the husband of his first wife. Violation of the tradition of shamanic initiation by Mandakov led to the fact that, being perceived in society as a shaman, he did not performed rituals, did not heal, did not hide his shamanic gift and attributes from strangers, as it was supposed to be for a traditional Selkup shaman, showed strange behavior and, in fact, turned into a psychic. However, in spite of everything he was a bright personality, a man of his time and deserved a place among the famous people of the Selkup people.
Key words: Selkups, the last Selkup shaman, traditions of shamanism, transformations of shamanism
DOI: 10.22250/20728662_2023_4_80
About the author
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Olga B. Stepanova – Ph.D. (History), Senior Research Fellow, Department of Ethnography of the Peoples of Siberia, Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS; 3 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |