Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/59

 The Aborigines of Northern Asia. 47

The famih' and clan structure is not very highl}^ developed,^'^ except among the Gilyaks. Life in underground houses during the greater part of the year directs the mental powers towards introspective thinking; hence the prevalence of hysteria, of revelations, of divination, and of sexual perversions.

Ceremonials are almost exclusively seasonal, and are connected with the food supply or the expulsion of bad spirits. For instance, Jochelson gives the following list of festivals and sacrifices among the Koryaks: — ^^

Maritime Korj'aks :

1. Whale Festival.

2. The putting away of the skin boat for the winter.

3. Launching the skin boat.

4. Wearing of masks.

Reindeer-breeding KoryaJcs :

1. Ceremony on return of the herd from summer

pastures.

2. The fawn festival.

Ceremonies common to Iwtli :

1. Bear festival.

2. Wolf festival.

• 3. Practices in connection with fox-hunting.

On the other hand, in the southern type of shamanism, or among the Neo-Siberians, life amid varied scenery, con- sisting of open country and mountains, has led to the worship of the sky and the heavenly bodies. Comparative abundance of food permits certain spontaneous ceremonial expressions of religious feelings, not necessarily con- nected with the food supply. Imagination is very much developed.

-'Jochelson, Etnologicheskia ProbUnty ita Sie:i.'ieruyh Bieregak Tihavo Okeana (1908), p. 27. ^ The Koryak, pp. 65-90.