shaman

    Article

    A term used as a general reference to an indigenous community's spiritual leader or traditional healer. Such a person has the skills and knowledge to perform rituals, heal sick or injured individuals, communicate with ancestors and the otherworld, prepare traditional medicine, and provide spiritual counseling.

    Photo Credit

     
    "Curandera, a traditional healer or shaman, Los Golondrinas, New Mexico, July 16, 2011" by Larry Lamsa is licensed under CC BY.

    Term Type
    References

     
    Encyclopedia Britannica Online
    N.d. Shamanism. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/538200/shamanism, accessed September 23, 2014.

    Haile, Berard
    1938 Origin Legend of the Navaho Enemy Way. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Matthew, Washington
    1885 Mythic Dry-Paintings of the Navajos. Amercan Naturalist 19:931-939.

    Morgan, William
    1970 Human Wolves among the Navaho. New Haven: Yale Universtiy Press.

    O'Bryan, Aileen
    1956 The Dine: Origin Myths of the Navaho Indians. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Opler, Morris Edward
    1943 Navaho Shamanistic Practice among the Jicarilla Apache. New Mexico Anthropologist 6/7:13-18.