The Inheritance and Change of the Contemporary Daur Shaman

摘要

The Daur people are a minority living in Northeast China. They have adhered to a form of shamanism since ancient times. They believe that all things are spiritual. The Daur call an intermediary or messenger between the human world and the spirit worlds jad’?n (shaman). In addition, there are also different types of priests and healers, such as baɡ?i (healer and priest), bar? (bone-setter), ?t??i (healer of child) and bar??en (midwife), but only the jad’?n is a real shaman. The Daur’s system of deities is huge, complex, and diverse, mainly including t??ɡ?r (God of Heaven), x???r bark?n (ancestral spirit), nja?nja? bark?n (Niang Niang Goddess), a?l?i bark?n (spirit of mountain), nu?ir bark?n (spirit of snake), ɡali bark?n (God of Fire), etc. Among them, ancestral spirit is the most noble and important deity of the Daur, called x???r bark?n (spirit of ancestors). In the past, the social structure of the Daurs was based on the equal clan xal and its branches mokun . X???r bark?n is the ancestral spirit of the mokun family. The shaman with x???r bark?n as the main patron is called x???r jad’?n , that is, mokun shaman. The inheritance of the Daur shaman is very complicated. The x???r jad’?n is strictly inherited along the patrilineal line, while the ordinary jad’?n can also inherit according to the maternal lineage. The inheritance rites of other types of shamans are also based mainly on the patrilineal lineage and occasionally the maternal lineage. The complexity of the Daur shaman inheritance is first and foremost related to the variety of the gods and spirits, secondly to their belief of polytheism, and finally to the constant split of the traditional clans and families, namely, the xal-mokun social structure.