An intermediate stage between polytheism and monotheism, which assumes a Great Spirit, with lesser deities subordinated. With the beginnings of shamanism there was the advent of the medicine man or witch doctor, who assumed a supervisory relation to disease and its cure. Formally, shamanism is a religion of Ural-Altaic peoples of Northern Asia and Europe, characterized by the belief that the unseen world of gods, demons, ancestral spirits is responsive only to shamans. The Indians of North and South America entertain religious practices similar to the Ural-Altaic shamanism. The word shaman comes from the Tungusic (Manchuria and Siberia) saman, meaning Buddhist monk. The SHAMAN handles disease almost entirely by psychotherapeutic means; he frightens away the demons of disease by assuming a terrifying mien. (From Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p22; from Webster, 3d ed)

Annotation

a form of traditional medicine; specify geog; not for African witch doctors: use instead MEDICINE, AFRICAN TRADITIONAL

forma tradiční medicíny; upřesni geograficky; ne pro africké šamany: zde užij deskriptor TRADIČNÍ AFRICKÁ MEDICÍNA

DUI

D019423 MeSH Browser

CUI

M0028897

Previous indexing

Medicine, Traditional (1970-1996)

History note

97

Public note

97