Children of Eagle Mother:
Shamanic Arts and Practices of Northern Asia

Overview

This three-day international colloquium, held 2004 May 21-24, brought us a unique opportunity to see and hear about Northern Asian shamanic arts and religions, and Northern Chinese ethnic minorities. Sponsored by the Frederica de Laguna Research Group, by InterCulture and the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa, the colloquium was open to students, researchers and the interested public.

Starting from the presentations by our guests, anthropologists and historians from China, Korea and Japan, the colloquium addressed the shamanic traditions, arts and ritual practices of the peoples of Northern Asia including the Nanai, Orochen, Evenki, Hezhe, Man, Mongols and Korean, among others. Our Asian guests were most interested in hearing about shamanic complexes in other cultures, such as the Dene and the Huichol and in comparing ethnographic methods with their North American and European counterparts.

Professor Wang Honggang, Director, Altaic Shamanism Research and Resource Center, Shanghai Academy of Social science, and Professor Yu Guohua, vice-president of the Beijing Sheng Ji Arts Academy, were our guest speakers. They were accompanied by anthropologists such as Professor Guo Shu Yun from the Institute of Ethnic Studies at Jilin Provincial Academy of Social Sciences in Changchun and Chinese historians including Professor Wang Xilong and Dr. Wu Mu from Lanzhou University in Gansu. Dr. Yu Xiao Fei came from Nihon University in Tokyo, Japan. Their contributions were translated in English and French. North American ethnologists working on shamanic traditions either in China or among North American Aboriginal peoples also gave presentations (which were translated in Chinese).

There were films and audio-visual ethnographic records, slides, lectures, round table discussions, and recordings of shamanic dance demonstrations, in a trilingual (Chinese, English and French) setting. There was also a unique photographic exhibit in the Simard Building gallery comprised of more than one hundred original photographs depicting shamanic rituals and paraphernalia from the Tungus speaking communities of Northern China.

Photo Gallery

Still to come