Suit Plate Shaman Pendant 7.5 inch 7 oz

Description

Shaman attributes suit pendant Plate 19x17 cm (Buryatia, Russia)
Size
approximately
19x17 cm. Weight about 202 g.
Metal / Handmade.
Made in Buryatia by a blacksmith shaman
Shaman attire, like a tambourine, has long been interested researchers. I.G. Gmelin and P.S. Pallas, who traveled in the 18th century in the Russian Empire, described the costumes of Siberian shamans. These costumes really could hit the imagination. Cloaks made of animal skin with numerous pendants and “trinkets”, fancy headdresses emphasized the connection of the shamans with the world of perfume. Such vestments were ceremonial, not everyday. As wrote V.M. Mikhailovsky, "shamans dress in a special way only when serving the spirits, in ordinary life, they do not differ from their fellow tribesmen by any external signs."
The shaman acquired a full set of ceremonial clothing only after the passage of time, proving his ability to communicate with spirits. At the Kets, for example, the shaman first acquired a beater from a tambourine, then a bandage on his head, then a bib, after him with shoes, after some other time with mittens. Only after that could he count on a tambourine with a new kolo carcass. The next step was the acquisition of the rod. And now on the line were a raincoat and an iron cap - "crown". The shaman always received his cloak and “crown” at the same time and usually after many years of experience. Then the shaman could become the owner of the second tambourine.
With all the diversity of ritual costume jewelry, their symbolism boils down to several basic meanings. They symbolize:
a) patron spirits and helper spirits;
b) bones of the skeleton and parts of the body of man and animals (birds);
c) all sorts of spirits with which the shaman has to communicate from time to time;
d) weapons and tools of the shaman;
e) space objects.
The weapon is widely represented on shaman's attire. The Yukagirs even called the iron pendants of the caftan the “arms” of the shaman. Small iron bows with an arrow, arrows without a bow, spears are a common affiliation of a shaman's costume for Yakuts, Altaians, and rings. The Altaians considered the bells on the raincoat "armor". Nanai shamans attached to the chest, on the back and to the belt of copper round metal plates "toli." "Toli", like a shield, covered the shaman from the imaginary arrows of the enemies. The holes made by the shaman in “toli” are traces of enemy arrows. The more holes, the more battles won the shaman.
Summarizing the literature materials and analyzing the collections of various museums, T.Yu. Sem uses the following concepts in the semantic classification of costumes: 1) space - with the image of the worlds of the universe and the spirits inhabiting it; 2) anatomical - with the image of the ancestor of the shaman, or parts of the skeleton; 3) natural - with the image of the world tree of life or the world river, the world mountain, as well as animals marking the sky, land, water, the lower world and the spirit helpers of the shaman; 4) protective - with the image of a mirror of roofing felts, items 12 of armament, magical protection, vehicles on a world river.
The layout and types of pendants on the suits of the IOCM collection correspond to this classification - distribution into three parts vertically - the upper, middle and lower worlds. Horizontal division is several layers of strips, pendants, harnesses.