The Yakut Shaman who was called by the Bear

Simin Uysal

While making a research on the the significance of dreams in Turkish shamanism, I came across a very interesting article titled “Towards the Source of Turkish Shamanism” written by Ahmet Ali Aslan, Assistant Professor at Selçuk University where he includes an account of his visit to a Yakut shaman in Siberia during his field research on Eastern and Western Siberian and Central Asian Turks. Below is the summary translation of part of that interview:

“We are at the Loomtuka village in the Kangalas region of Yakutia, visiting the shaman Vasili Nikiforov. He is living in a beautiful log house in the Siberian taiga.. 

We took our shoes off, washed our hands and sat the table set for us. On the wall was the fur of a big bear, above that deer antlers and a the shaman’s drum. I counted nine knobs or protuberances on the outer surface of his drum.

I understood why he has been shown great respect when I saw 13 little children coming out from their rooms to welcome us. I learned that Nikiforov has acted on a dream he had and adopted thirteen orphans from various Russian Republics. Their ages were now between 3 and 18.

I asked him whether I could give a small amount to buy candy for the kids. He accepted and asked me to give the amount I wish to the Governor who later would hand it to him.

It was time for me to ask my questions.

-       How you ever journeyed to the upper or the lower worlds?

-       No! I haven’t journeyed to those places yet.

-       Why? Are you scared?

-       No, I am not scared.

-       So, why don’t you visit those worlds if you are not scared?

-       I am not yet ready to go to those worlds.

-       May I ask the reason if that’s okay?

-       I need to die and come back to be able to journey to the lower and upper worlds. I haven’t lived through that stage yet. I am only taking care of the middle world affairs for now.   

I started asking my questions again:

- Have you had any mystical, big dreams?

- Yes, I did..

- Which spirits helped you?

- Spirit of the Bear.

- Are there any particularlystrong, dominant spirits in this region you are living?

- Yes, there are.

- Which spirits are superior? Grey Wolf, Deer, Eagle or the Bear?

- In our region here, the spirit of the Bear is the strongest.

- Can you tell us your mystical dream?

- Allright...I saw a limping bear walking towards me. He came next to me, reached out his paw and we walked towards the depths of the taiga together. I saw everything vividly and as clearly as the water I drink. Later, he brought me back and left me outside my house. When I woke, it was midnight. I was out of my bed and standing outside my front door in my sleeping gown. The door was locked from the inside.”

He did not want to continue talking about his dream after this point. He looked around and became silent.”

The bear was a sacred animal for the ancient Turks and has its place as the “Bear God or Bear Goddess” or as “Mother or Father Bear” in the Turkic mythology. Some Turkic tribes like the Bashkirs and Khakas believe that their ancestor is a bear and have the bear as their totem. The Turkish word for bear is “ayı” and called also as Azı (Adı, Azığ, Adığ), Aba (also means elder sister),  Ata (also means father, grandfather) in various Turkic languages. Etymologically, it comes from the root Ay, Ad, Az which denote power.

Like in the Yakut, Altai and Kipchak Turks, the name of the bear is not openly told in Anatolia and phrases like “the big boy” or “the one on the mountain” are used. According to belief, the bear can hear its name being called through the earth because the “earth has ears” and it can communicate.