The Burial of a Shaman
explained by ANJANG SANYSHKAP
A shaman, after he has come out, performs the yaqa prayer for the people. The shaman performs prayers, and after he has become old, he dies. After he has died, they bring him away to a far, far away place.
They make him sit down on the top of a high sand hill. When he has spend there seven days, he leaves from the top of this sand hill, and goes up to the top of another sand hill. For after that, wolfs and ravens will have eaten him. If they cremate the shaman in the fire, no shamans will come out anymore in his family.
If a shaman dies, they perform lom, Buddhist prayers. The sons and daughters who remain behind wait for their turn to become a shaman. But if they cremate him, no shaman will ever come out anymore.
They make the shaman sit down on top of the sand hill, they make him sit down and they light their lamps in front of him and they let him hold a çök qazdïq, a libation spoon, in his hand. He resembles just a living person, and the libation spoon also has a meaning.
If it has thirteen incisions, it is for libating to the highest Khan. If it has nine incisions, it is for libating to the Khans of the second rank. If it has seven incisions, it is for libating to the Seven. If it has three incisions, it is for libating to heaven's least deities. If a navel is carved in the middle of the laddle, it is for libating to the qïn küken, the umbelical-cord lamb-tether, the Deities of the Clan.
They put clothes on the shaman's body - what he wore in the [..] - they bring him such and such, they put on his hat, and thus they make him sit down.
The Burial of a Shaman was explained by Anjang Sanyshkap, 5 february 1911, and published in Malov, S. E. 1967. Jazyk zheltyx ujgurov. Teksty i perevody. Moscow. 138-139, no. 122.
A short explanation in Russian appeared in Malov, S. E. 1912a. Ostatki shamanstva u zheltyx ujgurov. Zhivaja Starina 21. 64. Sint-Petersburg.
Only a fully initiated shaman was allowed to use the libation spoon; a student had to use a bunch of grass. Upon completing his education, the old shaman would give his student nine lamps, after which the shaman was paid for his teachings.
Often, the function of shaman was hereditary. If, however, a shaman was cremated, his children could never become shamans.
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