Who are the shamans and medicine people?
A shaman or medicine person is someone who enters a trance
in order to heal people, foretell the future, control the
weather, ensure good hunting and so forth.
The Bushmen have many shamans. They are ordinary people who
perform everyday tasks and are not a privileged class. The
shamans sometimes exercise their supernatural powers in the
dream world, but principally it's practiced at a trance dance.
At a trance dance the women sit around a central fire and
clap the rhythm of songs. The men will dance around the women.
With the sounds of the dancing rattles and thudding steps
combined with the women's songs they activate a supernatural
potency that resides in the songs and in the shaman themselves.
When the potency 'boils' and rises up the shamans' spine,
they enter a trance. See What
is a trance dance?
The shamans rely on hyperventilation, intense concentration
and highly rhythmic dancing to alter their state consciousness.
Inexperienced shaman can fall to the ground unconscious if
they can't control their level of concentration.
When entering a trance, shamans often bleed from their nose
and experience excruciating physical pain. The shamans' arms
stretch behind them as the transformation into the spirit
world takes place.
During the trance the shamans perform their tasks, the most
important is to cure people of any ailments. They lay their
trembling hands on these people and draw sickness from them
into their own bodies. Then, with a high pitched shriek, they
expel the sickness through a 'hole' in the nape of the neck,
the n//au spot. The sickness thus returns to its source, which
is thought to be unidentified wicked shamans.
The next day, fully recovered, the shaman will tell people
of his experiences with the spiritual world. It is from these
experiences that the Bushmen painted the rock art and more
recently on canvas.
Today about half of the men and a third of the women in the
Kalahari are said to be shamans. Most young men strive to
become shamans, not for personal gain, but to serve their
community in that capacity. In their late teens they will
ask an experienced shaman to teach them. The apprenticeship
may last some years, during which the novice will dance with
the older man, absorbing his potency.
