Belief Systems and Culture
In any given society, religions are often very reflective of a culture's attributes. A belief system needs to fit in well with the way of life of its followers as a whole. How a cultural group interprets and solves its problems is incredibly dependent on its spiritual values. Every factor, from subsistence strategies all the way down to aspects as detailed as the size of a population, affects and is affected by what that population follows as a belief system in some way. Everyone interprets the world differently, and when people share the same views in a belief system, that brings them significantly closer together. Belief systems are so important because they are a foundation of values for everyone. When people differ in this aspect, however, it may be much more difficult to understand how people think and form their opinions. In this instance, Shamanic and Olympian followings will be discussed. Religions based on the following of shamans are typically seen in smaller populations that are community-based or tribal, not led by a statehood. Still, shamanic religions are found in societies today, and people do follow their practices even in a world where global westernization seems to be the ultimate goal and ideal. Contrarily, the Olympian polytheistic religions were known to be followed mostly in early statehoods and have not survived well through the progression to contemporary times. Olympian religions such as those of ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, were not quite as resilient, though; most of their followers were forced away from their beliefs and taught to follow Christianity when it first began to increase in popularity. These religions were mostly effaced by the spread of Christianity and monotheistic religions that take the lead in our world to this day.
The contrasts in the shamanic and Olympian-type belief systems are very obvious, since they have an entirely different basis of structure and intention of overall values. Looking a bit more closely, however, similarities between them can still be seen. For example, both types of religions were designed to be followed by the people belonging to specific groups. In the case of shamanic religion, these groups would often be tribes who rely on their appointed shaman for guidance and other solutions to life's problems. Often in the case of Olympian religions, the groups that were expected to follow would be the entirety of the population of a state, notably in ancient Rome, where it was punishable by law not to believe in the omnipotent gods.
People who follow shamanic religions believe in a “shaman”, which is a person who has divine powers. This person is most frequently physically present and provides stability for people's lives. A shaman may have a plethora of specialties, such as healing, channeling magic, warding off those who use magic for evil, guiding souls to the afterlife, acting as a medium, and committing general goodwill deeds for the community. Since shamans are physically human, they often have to be isolated symbolically from the general population. To do this, a shaman wears specific clothing and may even go as far as to assume a gender role that doesn't match any that the community has set as “normal”. A shaman also frequently needs to carry special objects needed for his/her tasks. An article entitled, “Becoming a Shaman” describes the tools and items of clothing that a shaman needs for his work.
Shamans use several different tools in their work. Their costume and ongons
are actual residences of their helper spirits. A one-sided hand held drum... is used to drive the singing and dancing which are a part of most ceremonies. After the drum the most important tool of the shaman is the toli, a metallic circular mirror. A shaman will attach many toli to his costume if he can obtain them... A toli acts like armor, deflecting spirit attack, it can reflect light to blind spirits, and is also absorbs energy from the universe to increase the shaman’s power. Most shamans usually also have one or two staffs...which he rides on spirit journeys.Another tool which is found in many tribes is the dalbuur, a ritual fan which is used to drive out spirits from patients... Shamans from some tribes use masks, but the most common one is the bear mask used for the ominan ritual. (buryatmongol.org) In contrast, Olympian religions are based around many gods who have specific duties and represented their own objects or concepts. These deities are never in any definite presence, but they are said to often disguise themselves as humans in the stories of mythology. In accounts of history, no one seems to have actually seen the gods, but the people still believe in their power. By the time these religions began to show up, however, the population of the world was increasing greatly and many civilizations were expanding into states. People quite possibly needed to have many gods to pursue different tasks because they were depicted in such a human-like manner that they wouldn't have time to take care of things that were not relevant to them specifically. The gods of Olympian religions seem to be comparable to shamans in that they have specific duties defined for them to share their abilities with the population. People often sought help from the gods to heal them, help them find love, and pursue other aspects of life's daily challenges.
Though this is a significant connection that people shared with their gods, there is an even closer connection that people had to their very own personal gods, which may be even more of a display of similarity to shamanistic followings. In ancient Rome, people even had the “lares”, which were the gods of their own households, to protect their families. They are especially intriguing because they were depicted in statues and kept in the home to ensure safety and good health in the family, and also to ward off evil spirits and thieves. There were also the manes, which were gods of similar nature that protected the belongings of the family. This shows a closeness that the ancient Romans had with their gods, who actually existed symbolically in their own homes. The lares and manes kept the family and its possessions in good standing in the same way that a shaman keeps the community from falling into danger.
Common belief systems are known to assist in bonding people together as a community, but not many people see how their beliefs are fundamentally similar to those of others. While shamanistic and Olympian religions are incredibly different from each other, they still show some values and beliefs that are strikingly similar. The gods of the ancient Romans, most notably the lares, were very functionally similar to shamans in that both figures protect families and communities as a whole, and both figures are a perfect fit for the societies that follow them. The significant difference between the two figures is simply the fact that the ancient Romans did not physically see their gods, whereas a shaman lives among the people who require his help. There are other aspects of each that set them apart from each other, but they are beings believed to possess similar power to each other. Both belief systems were also cast aside as “primitive” as the world continued its course of change, but they are still equally significant in the world today.
Works Cited
"Becoming a Shaman." Epic of King Gesar RSS. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://buryatmongol.org>.
"Barbelith: Magick: Shamanism in a Nutshell (1)." Barbelith: Magick: Shamanism in a Nutshell (1). Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://barbelith.com>
Kehoe, Alice B. Shamans and Religion. Illinois: Waveland, 2000. Print.
Parrinder, Edward Geoffrey. World Religions: From Ancient History to the Present. New York, NY: Facts on File, 1983. Print.