Page:The American Indian.djvu/233

Rh led to the interpretation that the phenomenon of totemism is little more than the incidental association between individuals or kinship groups and animal-like guardians, exogamous or analogous restrictions to marriage, ceremonial privileges, etc. The conception is that in this manner were accidentally formed tribal complexes of varying content which we class together under the name totemism because they have some elements in common. Like the other culture traits we have discussed, these complexes show a geographical grouping and so fall into more or less localized types.

The medicineman, or as he is sometimes called, the shaman, occupies a large place in our literature. Some writers give this functionary the chief place in all religious and ceremonial activities, thus making shamanism synonymous with religion. While it is conceivable that shamanism can be so defined as to include all religion, we must not overlook the fact that the medicineman of the New World is not the priest. A large number of tribes have distinct names for each and their cultures give them distinct and sometimes antagonistic functions. It is the shaman rather than the priest who is called upon to treat the sick, to foretell the future, etc. The priest is essentially the keeper and demonstrator of rituals, his right to do so arising chiefly from his mere knowledge of the subject, but the native conception of the shaman is one who works directly by virtue of some extra-human power. Consequently, it is the shaman who goes into trances and mystifies by jugglery, not the priest.

The importance of this distinction appears when we consider its wide distribution. For the three great centers of higher culture, Inca, Chibcha, and Maya-Nahua, we have far less data than for some of the wilder peoples, but what are available reveal a distinction between the two. The priests of these cultures were organized, as we have noted, in a manner comparable to and complementary to the political scheme, but the shaman class appears as unorganized and in some cases is described as itinerant. In Peru, they were sometimes