Ishmail R. Coleman 6.13.

15 Applied Activity 14

1.) Yanamamo
Visual- Visually, during this ritual I observed the preparation of the ritual as far as the
making of the hallucinogens and the dancing. I am able to see the shamans perform its
ritualistic duties of ceremonies so that the sky would not fall again. I see the shaman
placing people under powerful spells, in which they began to react strangely to the spell.
The ritual participants also began to hallucinate due to the psychoactive herbs that were
taken. There are elaborate markings on the shaman’s face, which indicates his position
within the social order. Furthermore, the scenery takes place within the base quarters of
the living area in which everyone seems comfortable.
Auditory- During the ceremony, the chants of the shaman giving the service is very
captivating. The voice pitch ranges from soft to loud, shrieks, almost yelling like. The
shaman’s voice has a distinct rhythm to it, which gives the feeling of a sermon like
message or delivery. The area is filled with excitement due to the shaman’s voice and
everyone reacts to his voice in a trance like notion. The voice rises with aggression
depending on the context of the ritual or if someone needs spirits casted out.
Furthermore, many different sound effects are heard and it can be inferred that the sound
effects pertain specifically to a type of ritual or action that the shaman is performing.
Olfactory- the smell of the air is very tropical and humid like. In the same aspect, the air
is captivated with dust. The smells of the psychoactive herbs filled the air as they were
grinded and prepared to be used and once used, another distinctive smell fills the air. The
abundance of men present at the ceremony also had an effect on the smell as well, in
which the area smells like men who have been in fields for days. As the ceremony is
going on, the smell from the cooking also captivates the air. The fresh smell of
vegetables both cooked and gathered for the ceremony is also present within the air.
Tactile- the humidity of the area has a great effect on the body, for my skin has become
very sticky. The grittiness of the shaman’s hand is felt as he touches my body during the
ceremony. I feel the grains under my foot as I walk on the sand-dust like landscape. I
feel the unique texture of the herbs before I consumed them. As I touch the herbs, it has a
sand like texture as I place it into the bamboo texture like instrument and snort. I feel the
grittiness of the sandy herb touch the back of my nose and goes down and touches my
throat.
Gustatory- during the ceremony, I tasted the tough and sweet taste of the sugar cane that
was provided. The taste of psychoactive herb as it went through my nose and down my
throat was very grain like and produced a snout like mixture as it went down. With the
food, I could taste the natural spices that were used. The area was so humid that you can
taste the dryness. As the ritual continued, my throat and mouth has become dry with
nervousness and I can taste the dryness consume my mouth to the point where I develop
cotton mouth.

2.) Inuit Shaman Clip

Ishmail R. Coleman 6.13.15 Applied Activity 14

My initial response to watching this video clip was that it was very emotional and captivating
to hear the Shaman’s story. His story was very sad and showcases the hardships of living within
Inuit culture. I never realized that Inuit cultures had Shaman’s to the extent that they had them as
shown in the video. I see that the shaman of the Inuit are vastly different than the shaman of the
Yanamamo and I would state that the difference has to deal with how distinctively different both
cultures are. The Inuit Shaman seem to utilize shamanism in a method as a way to defend
against taboos and evil spirits in the sense of a modern religion, while the Yanamamo still
seemed a bit primitive. I would suggest that the reason why the Inuit Shaman act in the manner
that they act toward taboo, death, and sickness, especially amongst children is because of the
high mortality rate amongst the culture, in which children die as well as older people.
Furthermore, I see how the two shaman cultures overlap in terms of using shamanism in order to
gain the strength to provide for family by means of hunting and gathering food.

While listening to the shaman’s story, I was very sad that he had to live a rough life that
he did. I also made connections on how his story is seen as somewhat of being the
characteristics of being a Inuit shaman in which he stated that the events before his birth
solidified his shaman position within the culture. I found it interesting that every shamanistic
culture has these similar attributes. Also, I noticed that these shamanistic cultures all embody
aspects of taboos in which the shamans must be aware of what is occurring because it may be
due to a taboo that might have been committed. Also, the Inuit shaman seem to be more relaxed
and calm, while the Yanamamo rituals and actions seemed to be elaborate and loud. It reminds
me to the differences between Pentecostal and exuberate worship, versus regular worshipping.
Furthermore, both groups have forms of philosophical deep thinking, but the Inuit shaman seems
to be more connected on the aspect of what is life, and how to deal with hardships and suffering.