Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/66

* SHAMANISM. 50 SHAMROCK. tion. There are seventeen lords of Jersu, each like a god. One is tlie lord of the Seventeen Seas; another, the highest, is Jo Kan, who in- habits the navel of earth and has power equal to that of the gods of heaven; and a third is the national god Altai Kan. All the gods and demi-gods of heaven and earth are favorable to man and do him no harm ; but only the Jersu Kans may be approached directlyby comniou men. The spirits of the up- per worUi and of the under world nuist be ap- proached through the mediatory spirits of the dead; in the ease of good gods through the Somo, that -is, the nine guardian ancestors of man. But, again, only certain families of men now living can control the .S'ohio and other JIanes. The power to move the spirits is inherent in cer- tain families. This power manifests itself by ecstasy, and by inspiration shown in trembling, sweating contortions, r.avings, and fits. When thus inspired, one ciin act as mediator between men and the spirits, and he who does this is a wizard and a Shaman or Kam, his function being called kamlanie. The Shaman seems to mediate w^ith the Manes and the latter with the spirits, but in reality the Shaman is infused with Manes and so possessed by them that all he does at a sacrifice or in prophesying is really done by the ancestor who is in possession of the Shaman's soul. The evil ones in Erlik's realm occiipy various hells, and below his own hell is that of the damned, the lowest of all, Kasyrgan by name, in which the victims are boiled in a pot out of which they can come according to their virtue or by the help of the good spirits. Erlik is the foe of man, but he is called Father Erlik, "because all men belong to him and at the end he takes the lives of all." For Erlik is the cause of death, as he is of sickness, malformation, poverty, and all other misfortunes. Hence, men honor Erlik first of all, call him father and guide, and make him rich offerings, for although the spirits of light are more powerful than those of darkness, they require little attention. When a human be- ing is born, a good spirit is sent down by Bai Uelgan to supply it with life from the sea of milk and ever after to keep watch at its right hand, guiding it aright. But simultaneously Erlik sends a devil from below to stand at the man's left hand and mislead him. After death the soul goes to Erlik, who judges it. If its virtues pre- dominate Erlik has no power over it, it goes to the third heaven ; but if its evil is greater than its good, it is damned and dropped in the boiling hell below. Yet human virtue is not enough to save a soul, for all spirits are envious and desire a man's goods, and it is safest to satisfy both kinds of spirits with. gifts. To keep on good terms with these a Shaman is requisite, whose of- fice is to sacrifice, give oracles, and purify a house from the spirits of the dead. Consult Rad- loff, Atts Sibirien (2d ed., Leipzig, 1893). SHA'MASH (Babylonian slinmshu, sun). The Sun-god in the Babylonian-Assyri.an pantheon, this word of the Semitic invaders replacing the Sumerian Utu. While other deities, e.g. Nergal (q.v.), represent particular phases of the sun, Shamash is the snlar deity without limitation. The theology represents him as son of Sin. the Moon-god, in accordance with the original pre- eminence of the moon over the sun in ancient thought, but Shamash attained a rank of first- rate importance. The chief scats of his worship were Larsa and .Sippar, in South and North Babylonia respectively. He was the beneficent deity of light and warmth, being invoked in healing, and as the chief god of oracles, he be- came the judge par excellence. His two children present this idea allegorically in their names, KctUi (right) and Seshar (equity). He is also described as riding in his chariot, which is guided by Bunene — an idea suggestive of Greek mythology. The Sun-deity also appears in a feminine form in South Arabia, while local names, like Beth-shemesh, indicate the same cult in Syria. Consult: Jastvow, Religion of Babyloniii and Assyria (Boston, 1898) ; Zimmeru and Winckler, in Schrader's Eeilinschriftcn uiid das Alfc Trsldvient (3d ed., Berlin, 1902). SHAMMAI, shani'ma. The vice-president of the Sanhedrin during the reign of Herod. His teachings are marked by great severity and in- sistence upon details. The results of the rigor of the school appear in the doctrines of the Zealots (q.v.), who were nearly all followers of Shammai. Shammai is supposed to be identical with Sameas, mentioned by Josephus {Ant. xiv., 9, 4), who opposed Herod on his appearance be- fore the Sanhedrin in B.C. 47. No details are known concerning his life. SHAMO, sha'nio'. A desert region of Central Asia. See Gobi. SHAMOKIN. sha-mO'kin. A borough of North- umberland County, Pa., 40 miles north by east of Harrisburg; on the Lehigh Valley, the North- cm Central, and the Philadelphia and Reading railroads (Map: Pennsylvania, E 3). It is the centre of an extensive anthracite coal-mining industry, and has also silk and knitting mills, stocking and shirt factories, wagon shops, iron works, and brick yards. Shamokin was laid out as a town in 1835, and was incorporated as a borough in 1864. Population, in 1890, 14,403; in 1900, 18,202. SHAMROCK (Ir. sennirog, diminutive of seainar^ trefoil). A national emblem of Ireland, said to have been first assumed as the badge of Ireland from the circumstance tluit Saint Patrick made use of it to illustrate the doc- trine of the Trinity. The Trifoliiim minus, a hop clover, is the generally accepted modern shamrock, but the wood sorrel, the bird's-foot trefoil or medick, and the small-leaved clover ( Trifolinm repens), which has had a superstitious respect attached to it from early times, have also claims to be associated with the national emblem. See Lotus. SHAMROCK I., ir., and hi. Three racing yachts owned by Sir Thomas Lipton, designed and built to compete for the America's Cup in the international yacht races off Sandy Hook, N. Y. The first siiamrocl: competed in the 1899 cup races and was defeated by the American yacht Columbia in the first three races of the series as follows: First race, October 10. lost by 10 minutes and 8 seconds; second race, October 17th, disabled, Columbia had a walk-over; third race, October 2Uth, lost by minutes and 34 seconds. Her length over all was 132 feet 2 inches; beam, 24 feet inches, with a draught of 20 feet. She had a displacement of 147 tons,