46. Ancestors. Northern Tungus System

The souls which reach the world of dead people do not remain indifferent to the living people. Amongst all Tungus groups they do play an important part. We have just seen that in case the soul cannot reach the other world it becomes a real danger to the people. Therefore, after death one of first aims of the living people is to send the souls to their right place. When the souls are admitted for permanent living in the lower world they do not need so much attention and they do not so much annoy the living people.

In all Tungus languages the terms for «ancestors» are derived from bu to die. So we have buni (Barg. Bir. Kum. Shin.), buno (RTM.) (Bar. Nerc.), bunil (Nerc.) etc. and merely buco («dead»), etc. in the sense of dead people's souls in the lower world, or even the Lower World, Hades. According to the Tungus conception, the conditions of life in buni are about the same as those in this world. The souls need and like some food, they need dress, they need many other things as the living people do and even perhaps somewhat more for the country (world) in which they live is not attractive at all. First of all, it is a realm of darkness and cold. Yet, the souls which are reduced to their immaterial existence are still worrying about the people left in this world. Moreover, many of them, according to some Tungus at least, have to pay for their mistakes made during their lifetime.

Buni is located in the north-western section of the world, the entrance being located at the most northern point reached by the sun during the summer. It may be noted that this point is subject to some variations owing to the latitude, so it may be found in NWW and NNW. However, I have never heard of other directions. The way to buni is long and difficult. The way goes across lakes (e.g. amongst the Barguzin Tungus across Lake Baikal), rivers and ranges of mountains, until it reaches the river which is controlled by the spirit gai among the Barguzin Tungus and which must be crossed before entering buni. The way is haunted by different spirits which want to catch the souls. According to the Barguzin Tungus, the sea (lake) coast and a part of the way is watched by a bear and the souls are located in the wooden houses gula (square, with a roof!). According to the Birarchen, on the road there is also a raven which watches the soul and flies to the family of the soul's owner when the soul begins to move towards buni. According to the Reindeer Tungus of Manchuria, one has to go NW and cross a layer of earth seven fathoms deep before reaching buni, where there is no sun. The Birarchen and Kumarchen, under the Manchu influence have adopted the idea that this world is separated from buni by three rivers; the first one is the Red River across which a one-legged man carries the souls in his canoe. This man is called in Manchu toxolo age, i.e. the «lame brother.» Indeed, he is the same per-sonality as the Greek one and the Red River is the Greek Stix. The second river is the Yellow River, after crossing which the soul meets with Mongoldai Nakcu, i.e. Mongoldai«senior of the mother's clan», which examines the case before allowing the soul to cross the Black River beyond which Inmunkan reigns. This description corresponds to that given in the Manchu book Nisan Saman. On the way to buni the sun becomes more distant and lower, so that the light decreases. Before the entrance the light is like that of twilight; at last there is no light at all and after crossing a high range, there is buni.

According to the Birarchen, beyond buni there is ela gurun from which the souls never return and it is a real death and vanishing of the soul. The souls of very bad people are sentenced to this punishment by Inmunkan. In the case of good conduct during life the soul may even remain without being sent to Inmunkan and it will become endur'i. The soul which has passed several times through people, may also remain as endur'i. This is, of course a new theory adapted to the idea of recompense for high morality. Such people — souls are called durov'i dasaca, i.e. the law (regulations, modus) corrected (improved). In the case of very bad conduct of a person, his soul may be refused admission and thus it would become errant s'irkul, already described, or it may be left in buni for expiation of sins and also it may be killed. It may also be transferred to an animal of low standing, e.g. the mule, insects, etc. However, in the eyes of the Tungus this is not a degradation but it does not help to attain eternity. The second death is also adopted by the Barguzin and Nerchinsk Tungus as a probable issue. These Tungus and the Reindeer Tungus of Manchuria admit that the souls of people of good conduct may also be admitted to uyiski, where there are found some «spirits-masters», instead of to buni. Such good people are called haja (RTM) and mayun (Barg. Nerc.). Together with good people the rich people also are admitted to uyiski as may un. I think that in these cases we have partial adoption of the Russian complex.

The spirits staying in buni, according to the Birarchen, are divided into two groups, namely, ileli buni whose names are mentioned during the sacrifice and which may be harmful or useful to the people, and which are not further than the fourth generation, and all other buni which are called ajor buni. The latter are not of importance and they cannot harm nor do any good to the living people.

The aspect of these spirits, when they come to this world, is pitiful: the spirits are hungry, weak, hardly moving along their stony way in the twilight (cf. infra Chapter XVII, the text of prayer). However, they are not harmless and the living people may often suffer from their mischief. So, for instance, an old Kumarchen greatly suffered from them, — he had very bad eczema and swelling of the legs, his two horses were killed by them, etc. The chief trouble was that the old man did not exactly know which deceased relative was angry with him and what was wanted, — this might have been his father or his mother or his junior brother. In such a case the only way is to give a good sacrifice. Sometimes, buni do not give mahin so that the hunter cannot kill the animals. In this case the buni's usual way of acting is to make the hunter temporarily blind, or send off the roe-deer, or change the normal refraction of rays (the Tungus say, «like in water») which gives a wrong position of the animal etc. These spirits may sometimes be responsible for a real insanity which requires great effort on the part of the shaman of the clan. The Birarchen admit that a menace of beating the buni and a promise to leave them without food may be quite effective and may make the spirits less aggressive. Placings for these spirits are always made in the form of an anthropomorphic straw figure about sixty centimetres long with two arms and two legs supplied with two toes but perhaps there is no particular intention of making only two toes but only the straw material does not permit of giving more details. This placing is sitting on another placing, a dog, made also of straw.

* * *

MANCHU SYSTEM. The Manchu system in many a respect is different from that observed among other Tungus groups. As to the structure of the lower world it is in main lines adopted by the Tungus of Manchuria so I will not repeat here what has already been discussed, and for details I shall refer to the Manchu book Nisan Saman. The Manchu lower world is located in the southwestern section and is built up with a still greater similarity to the world in which the Manchus live. This is partly due to the existence of lists of ancestors, well preserved in written form. It is peopled by a great number of spirits, officials keeping gates, writing records (n'almabe k'arara endur'i — the spirit keeper of the book), the spirit of mules, horses oxen, pigs etc. but sheep, dogs, monkeys etc. are lacking. These spirits are also called endur'i and they are under Ilmunxan orders. The Manchu picture is a complex of elements borrowed from Buddhism and Taoism.

If the soul fajangga fojengo is admitted by Ilmunxan, it may be transferred to another man, or animal or it may be left in the lower world. If the man lived as he should his soul may be given to a child, even may become either endur'i or fuc'k'i (mava fuc'k'i) and it may become a guardian spirit or vochko. But if he was a bad man his soul may be incarnated into the animal used by the people to whom he caused harm during his life. However, this soul may not also be admitted as it happens, for instance, in the case of suicide. Then it also becomes a xutu. But even in this ease there are some issues which will be discussed later. The third soul leaves the body on the seventh day after death and remains in the other world, unless the soul could not be taken there, especially if the man died before the limit given to him and known from the book of life, kept in the other world. Such souls, as we have seen, become xutu.

The essential difference between the Manchu and the Tungus system is that the Manchu ancestors may become spirits-guardians and they would be called mafa or mafari (Writ.) (plural) mavar'i (Sp.). However, this term referred to the superior classes of relatives (vide SOM), is also referred to some spirits which are not at all real ancestors, as a sign of honour and esteem. As a matter of fact, in such a function they do not act like «an-cestors», but as any other spirits of importance. Therefore they will be treated in the following Chapter XIII.

All clan-ancestors who are admitted to the lower world are now called p'oyun vochko, but the same term vochko is referred to the shamanistic spirits (vide infra). In Manchu Writ, it is vecheku; the shamans call them vechin or wechin. In Chinese these terms were rendered in a way which indicates that the Manchu terms cannot be derived from Chinese [294]. The etymology in Manchu gives no more hints, for the verb vece (mb'i), — to «sacrifice to vochko », and vechen, — the «sacrifice», do not help at all, the verb itself might be of secondary origin [295]. The same spirits may be also called sagdas'i vochko, i.e. «the old ancestors-spirits», and even too short in Chinese japu, i.e. the family record, — used in the sense of «clan list».

Besides vochko, vecheku, vechin there are some other terms for this class of spirits. They are sometimes called beise — «princes», as it may be seen from the list of amba wuse clan spirits (vide infra). Yet, there may be used other honourable addresses. The vochko call themselves, i.e. when they are introduced into the shaman, endu, which ought to be connected with enduri, en-duringa, etc. It is difficult to give an English translation of this term, — it is referred to the high spirits endur'i; to the souls which do not migrate from one animal to another but remain free, to the souls of emperors; yet, it may be referred to the monks, to wise, clever people, and so on. Perhaps it may be translate t «saint, immortal, wise». One meets with another term which is an usual term, when the spirit is introduced into the placings for sacrifice, namely, jukten ~ jukte. For instance, in Manchu mon'i vochko («our spirits») is equivalent to mon'i jukten, so they say in prayers vecere veceku, juktere Jukten, where vechembi means to «perform the rites», and juktembi, — to «sacri-fice to the spirits». However, I. Zaxarov and Manchu dictionaries give jukten, — «the sacrifice». I do not venture to explain why the meaning of jukten has changed. There is one more expression in reference to the spirit, namely, e/en by which term the spirits refer to themselves, per the shaman's mouth naturally. So we have expression mon'i eien de gemu sag tatfin, i.e. (solicit) «to our people all good and peaceful», while in the ordinary language and in reference to the human groups one has to say mon’ipode (Manchu Sp.), or mon’ip 'oyunde, i.e. «to our family (clan)».

The Manchu idea about veceku is that this is a group of ancestors of the given exogamic unit, which has also its own administrative organization headed by mokunda. The Manchu has the following expression: «how many exogamic units and chiefs, so many (complexes of) spirits» [296]. The Manchus borrowed from the Chinese their method of recording the clansmen into a list from which one may find the relations between the members of the clan [297]. The list is called veceku mafai temgetu i.e. «spirit ancestor's certificate», which corresponds exactly to Chinese ja-pu (vide supra); the same is also called sagdas'i vochko, i.e. «the old ancestors-spirits», and even in Chinese (japu). Every clan has its own list which is in charge of an elected clan chief, — mokunda. Every three years on the clan meeting the list is revised and completed. The persons belonging to other clans are not allowed to see the list [298]. It is evident that the people recorded in these lists are different in different clans (at the present time, — mokun). However, since the clans as new exo-gamic units always are in the process of formation and regrouping, many clan lists have common ancestors, for the eldest ancestors recorded are reproduced in the newly formed clans as their own ancestors. This is shown in the scheme below.

Moreover, since the keeping of the list among the Manchus was introduced rather late, many clans could not go very far into their genealogies. However, with the translation and transcription of the Manchu clan names into Chinese, when the Chinese clan names were often taken for Manchu clans, the Manchus confused the names with their bearers and very soon began to include into their lists the ancestors which were known to the Chinese bearers of the same characters for their own Chinese clans. Therefore, in many Manchu clan-histories we find Chinese traditions as to the Chinese clans. Owing to this, the Manchu clans sometimes have common ancestors which are not truly so, and even which are not Manchus. Yet, since the length of clan-lists becomes excessive and such lists practically impossible to be copied and preserved, the Manchus began to abbreviate them. So that some of the lists about which I could gather information were a mere collection of meaningless names written in certain order but with no connection between the names (relatives) to be found. Indeed, the periods near to our times are better represented. Owing to the fact that some traditions are connected with the names of some ancestors, their names have more chance for being preserved. In this way there is gradually produced a selection of ancestors worthy of attention while the other ancestors are gradually forgotten. Thus the clan-lists actually represents in a detailed manner only a few generations, while the earlier generations become poorer and poorer and at least they are merged into the confusion of traditions. The consequence is evident, — the ancestors regardless of their names and connections ought to be symbolised. The Manchus did this in the form of «placings» for spirits, which in all clans (nowadays, mokun) must be naturally different, and actually they are so. For instance, the placings for p'oyun vocko of the kor'jo xala consist of two groups of five and nine silk ribbons called sorgun, about thirty-five, to forty centimetres long, and four to five centimetres wide. During the sacrifice they are hung up to a stand in front of which there are put some pieces of silk tissue. The number of ribbons and their colour may vary, but as a rule the numbers must be odd. In some clans the placings consist only of either silk pieces or ribbons. As distinct character of the ici manju placings they include some wooden placings in the form of three horses. However, one of the fe manju clans, namely, tura xala has three horses on one of which there is image of a human face. Formerly their complex was similar to that of other fe manju clans, but they have lost their koli (written rite and enumeration of vochko) and since that time they have no more p'oyun saman, who used to deal with these spirits. In the case of division of, the exogamic clans there must be done also division of the placings for spirits which are identified with the spirits themselves, for beginning from that very moment the spirits are not «worshipped» by all members of the clan before its division. The Mongo clan has a quite different kind of placing for its clan-spirits, namely, there are five wooden anthropomorphic (with legs, arms, faces, eyes, noses) placings, about fifty or sixty centimetres long, dressed in silk and attached to a piece of silk. The members of the clan koir'i can use and pray the spirits of the mongo clan. The reason is that the koir'i originally were not numerous but they had a ta saman (vide infra). Then these two clans formed kapc'i i.e. double (clan). It is quite peculiar to mongo clan that they bury, together with the corpses of their clansmen, placings for clan-spirits. However, this custom has been recently given up. Owing to this practice some of mongo mokun have less than five placings. In one of the New Manchu (ici manju) clans there is a special placing consisting of mujuya n'imaya vochko, i.e. «the carp fish spirit», made of wood, and three o'iyan vochko, also anthropomorphic wooden placings. Some New Manchu clans, as e.g. wujala clan, have samdara n' uryan vochko - i.e. «for shamanising a picture spirit», which is called also poi or p'oyun vochko and they usually have a very limited number of Chinese-like pictures of ancestors [299]. The ancestors-spirits may have reserved for them a special horse or even several horses which are supposed to be used for riding by the spirits. Such a horse is brought into the house, put in front of the placings for spirits, and silk ribbons are attached to the mane — sorgun xoitaxa mor'in, - i.e. ribbon attached horse, -and burning incense is brought near to the nostrils of the animal. Such a horse cannot be used by the women and clansmen wearing mourning dress. The horses are chosen among those which have been cured by prayers addressed to the spirits vochko. The placings, in a box, are put in their usual place reserved for them

— on the amba nayan, the heated stove-bed facing the entrance, in the left corner called taixos'i (cf. da xoso of Manchu Writ.)

— «the principal corner». Only once a year, on the days of yearly sacrifice, they are taken out and placed as shown before. They are kept together with the list of clansmen, so nobody can touch them. Naturally these restrictions are especially rigourous for the women who are not clan-people and who may have menstrual blood.

The character of the spirits also is different, which may be seen in the difference of sacrifices; for instance, some spirits do not accept blood sacrifice. So that e.g. in wuza (even vuza) clan the spirits do not take it and the placing must be carefully hidden when the bloody sacrifice is given to apkaiendur'i. In this clan the number of ribbons is very large. Yet, the spirits in some clans require different kinds of blood sacrifice, e.g. mutton, pig, etc [300].

Yet, there is a very important division of spirits into two groups, namely, those of the day road (inengi joyun vochko) and those of night road (jamji joyun vochko). The theory of «road» will be discussed later (vide infra, Ch. XIII) so that now it may be only noted that jamj'i joyun vochko very often produce illness among the clansmen and they like blood sacrifice (given in the dark), while inengi joyun vochko are chiefly protectors of the clansmen and they do not need blood. In the group of jamj'i there are many females, while in the group of inengi the female-spirits are few. The jamj'i are known only in the clans of fe mangju.

The descriptions of the ritual given in some Manchu books are descriptions of rituals characteristic of different clans. Such manuals existed in many clans, but at the present time many of them are lost. The well known book manjusa i vecere metere kooli bitxe gives a description of spirits known in the clan g'oro xala, Golden Branch, which was that of the Imperial Family. Naturally the ceremonies and spirit of this clan are not the same as those of other clans. The ritual and prayers also are different [301].

A detailed description of spirit and their placings in the existing clans about which I have information from the ethnographical point of view is not interesting so I shall confine myself to the above remarks.

The spirits may cause sickness e.g. by introducing themselves into the living clansmen. It usually happens during night time (vide supra: jamj'i joyun) when the person begins to tremble and throw himself about. After this the person usually sees in a dream the spirit-ancestor which says what it wants. The women are more subject to these night visits. Once the spirit of a great grandfather introduced himself into a small boy during his meal. So the boy threw away the bowl with food and was seized by convulsions. The ancestor, as it was found out, wanted to have a shrine and a memorial stone erected, upon his grave. Yet, sometimes the ancestor-spirit may introduce itself into a clansman during the time when the soul of the clansman is absent. In this case the clansman may become insane, and it would be extremely difficult to cure such a clansman. Moreover, since they all the time are in the house their looking or «breathing» at different part of the body may suffice for producing a serious sickness at any moment. In case the spirit was promised a shrine with its placing (usually a Chinese made picture of the ancestor), the promise must be fulfilled for otherwise the spirit would call again, and therefore the spirit must not be «cheated». According to the Manchus, these cases are common. Sometimes the ancestors are wrongly suspected of doing harm to the clansmen and when they are seen (by the shaman) they may reject the wrong accusation and even indicate the actual spirit troublemaker. The cases of introduction of ancestors-spirits into the shamans will be analysed in a special treatment of shamanistic spirits some of which also are ancestors. In order to neutralise the activity of the spirits, the Manchus sometimes have to promise that their children will become p'oyun saman.

However, the ancestor-spirits vocko may also become protectors. We have already seen (vide supra p. 143 et seq.) that these spirits may act as protectors against the spirits attacking clansmen, - they protect the house and family against other spirits. But if one does not treat them properly they may allow the spirits to penetrate the house. Vochko are very important in protecting women lying-in. Therefore, the prayers and incense are given to them during labour.

During the wedding ceremony the couple must also make a sacrifice to the spirits. The adoption, by the clan, of a new member formerly belonging to another clan may be done only after a participation of the candidate in the clan sacrifice to vocko. After the sacrifice all persons present at the ceremony are considered to be «brothers», i.e. members of the clan. However, practically this is not observed, for the foreigners are, though very rarely, admitted to the sacrifice and not all of them become «brothers» [302].

The relations between vochko and other spirits are rather complex. Since these spirit may be dissatisfied with the fact that the man looks for help from the shaman's spirits, they must be informed about it and they must receive some sacrifice. If this is not done a conflict may originate between the shaman's spirits and vochko which may still more affect the condition of the sick clansman. These relations become more complex when the clan-spirits p'oyun vochko become shamanistic spirit. In this function they come to fight all spirits.

The spirits p'oyun vochco of the wife's clan [in'i (her) -tan 'c'in’i vocko (tanchin so the woman calls the relatives of her clan when she is married)], and that of the mother's clan [mon'i (my) xon '-ch'ix'in vochko (xon'c'ix'in, — my mother's clan)] ought to be considered. For instance, during the first visit to the wife's mother's house the newly married man must make sacrifice. Also the mother's clan-spirits must not be disregarded during the visits.

In the Manchu complex we find a series of spirits which have evidently originated from the souls of the ancestors. These spirits are known under the class name of mafa (cf. supra). However, the term mafa may be misleading, Although it means «old man», «ancestor» (e.g. mafar'i is often used instead of vochko), but it is also used in the sense of «honourable person» etc. In this sense this name is sometimes referred to the spirits which are not at all «ancestors», but to spirits of different, even alien, origin with which it is advisable to maintain good terms and for this reason they are called mafa as it is, for instance, with the tiger and bear. Owing to the difficulty of defining the actual origin of some spirits called mafa, — the Manchus themselves do not know their origin, -I shall include them in the group discussed in the next chapter. In case the origin is known I shall point it out. Moreover, the number of such undefined spirits is not large.

In the foregoing lines I have already mentioned the existence of the shamans in some Manchu clans. Here I had in view the shamans which in Manchu are shamans only by name. The complexity of the theory of spirits, and the existence of elaborated rituals and prayers, also the need of regulating activity of the ancestors-spirits have imposed establishment of specialists who are in charge of looking after and managing these spirits. As a matter of fact, they are nothing else but «clan priests» who are either elected by the clan, or merely appointed by the clan authorities (mokunda and clan meetings), or just persons taking those duties on themselves owing to their personal vocation. In Manchu they are called p'oyun saman, i.e. home («family», «clan») shamans. They greatly differ from ordinary saman, — «the shaman», — for they do not introduce into themselves the spirits and they do not «master» spirits. However, this distinction cannot be accepted as absolutely sharp for there is a clan (nara xala) in which the p'oyun saman do introduce the ancestors-spirits into themselves and act like genuine shamans. I shall return to this problem in Part 3.

288. The Tungus of Saxalin Island and Amur Gov. use this term for the souls which have not received special church services, - Requiem of Russians. Indeed, this is a new function.

289. In the dictionary of the missionaries, e.g. Lamuts, ar'inka is translated as «devil» «tempter». The missionaries in the Enissy Gov. used the same stem ar for forming a series of words for «resurrection», «resurrected Jesus Christ», etc.

290. The Manchu compare it with the Chinese kai. However xutu may also be called (and it will be a polite form} nai («of the earth) torg' i (winner part», «inside») [cf. dorgi (Manchu Writ)] n'ahna («people»); but the Manchus would add n 'ahna aku («not man»). Let us remark that although the man (n 'a/ma) is living on the earth he cannot be called nai n 'ahna, but wejyun, — i.e. «living», «alive».

291. I. Zaxarov's translation does not seem to be correct, at least for the present time.

292. This xutu is regarded as one of the harmless «home» xutu (the etymology of balju xutu is not clear). During the night, it approaches the people (the Manchus sleep on the heated beds with their heads turned toward the inside of the room and feet toward the outside walls) and pulls out their hair. The head gradually becomes bald. The spirit may be seen as light (compare arengk'i), but one cannot catch the spirit unless one puts on one's shoes backward which the xutu do not like. If one succeeds in catching the light one will find one's own hair

293. Cf. the same idea amongst the Tungus of Manchuria and other groups as well.

294. Although the Chinese characters used for rendering vocko, veceku, and vedn, are selected with hints as to the meaning of these terms still these expressions are not Chinese. For veceku and vecin there are given the following transcriptions: […] [phonetically wej'axu (or ku)], which in translation gives «my», «family», «house, family, door» (or «ancient») and […] [phonetically wean] which in translation gives «my», «relatives», the latter being a very frequently used character for expression of the idea of closeness, and particularly various classes of relatives.

295. The etymology seemed to be very simple to Ch. de Harlez who has connected the stem vece with Sanscrit and Avestic yaj, yaz «honorer d'un culte», «offrir un sacrifices However, the difficulty is that, the suffix ku is not one which may make an adjective, as Harlez supposed (ibid, p. 14), but the nearest function of this suffix is that forming nomen agendi (cf. I. Zaxarov, Gram. p. 72, § 42, 6.). Indeed, in this sense veceku might have meaning of «placing» with the help of which the spirits were offered their sacrifices. Then, veceku was rot originally a term for «spirit». However, in Manchu Sp. the verb vecemb'i is used only when the sacrifice is given, while there are other terms for actions with the shaman's spirits vocko. Yet, the ancestors — spirits are not called voceku but p'oyun vochko. Thus the etymology of the term vecheku is not clear.

296. Ch. de Harlez's (op. cit. p. 13) translation «les genies domestiques, protecteurs du foyer et de la famille, mais surtout les ames des ancetres....» is not correct. The Manchu dictionary (the Mirror, XIII, 9 section) is not correct for not only these spirits are honoured at home. A. Rudnev gives weiceg which corresponds to vecin and which certainly is a form modified owing to the Chinese phonetic complex. Yet, these spirits as shown are not only shamanistic spirits. I. Zaxarov's translation based on Chinese and Manchu sources is erroneous and misleading, namely, «the spirits of heaven and earth, spirit of the house-penates», compared with Mongol or/got, with idol, etc.

297. Regarding the clan organization vide my study Social Organization of the Manchus, which may help in understanding of the problems regarding the spirits.

298. I once saw a clan-list (cf. SOM p. 68 et seq.).

299. Cf. the case of sagda sala, — SOM p. 63.

300. Cf. mongo xala, SOM p. 24.

301. Some more details will be given later. Indeed, the complex of p'oyun vochko in this clan was under special conditions for the Imperial Family and the whole clan, on the one hand, were under a very strong Chinese influence (at the period of Ch'ien Lung, the process of sinifying was almost completed), arid on the other hand, they wanted to make smooth their relations with both the Chinese subjects and the other Manchu clans. However, the Imperial Family could not evidently influence very much the Manchu living far from the capital.

302. I have never been invited to joining clan although I assisted at the ceremonies.