Ritual and World View

Spier described a number of significant rituals for the Klamath Female puberty was marked by a five-night ceremony, similar in many respects to the puberty ceremonies of the Modoc and Shasta (Spier 1930:68-71; Voegelin 1942:122-28). A complex series of shamanistic performances occurred during mid-winter (Spier 1930:112-22). First sucker ceremonies were held in the spring (Spier 1930:148), Cremation of the dead was "the universal practice, even for suicides, the newborn, and the stillborn" (Spier 1930:71).

As with other Indian peoples of the region, however, the ritual life of the Klamath centered on the quest for spirit power. The Klamath recognized a variety of spirits, "predominantly birds and animals, winds, lightning and the like, and a handful of anthropomorphic beings" (Spier 1930:93). Any one of these could be sought for blessings. Power or good luck could be sought for a variety of situations, among these "curing, gambling, love-making, and shamanistic trickery" (Spier 1930:93) Spirit manifested themselves through songs, heard in the seeker's dreams. (1) These formed the key to spirit power. As Spier has interpreted this view,

The spirit never manifests itself but in the song; the singer is the vehicle, the voice of the spirit. Song and spirit are one and the same thing. (Spier 1930:95)

The spirit quest followed a consistent form. Anyone could seek power, and seemingly all or almost all undertook a quest at least once in a lifetime. The quest involved separation, a retreat to lonely and thus powerful places:

Power is sought in lonely spots in the mountains, in mountain pools, in eddies in the rivers, in all places where spirits are known to dwell. A boy is sent into the mountains on a vigil of several days, perhaps five. ... He must fast and must not touch his hands to his face, but must use a scratcher instead. He must sleep without covering and warm himself only occasionally by a little fire. He runs about constantly throughout the night, piling rocks into high piles... and swimming in the mountain pools. He prays, calling loudly to the spirits, and finally gets an answer. (Spier 1930:95)

Verne Ray noted that in both Klamath and Modoc cultures, there was considerable emphasis on "making artificial rock piles for religious or commemorative purposes and for attributing mythological significance to rock piles of unknown origin" (Ray 1963:xiii).

From a traditional Klamath perspective, one can contrast two ritual forms: the vision quest proper, most commonly undertaken at puberty, whose aim is to gain or augment spirit power; and the crisis quest, a retreat to sacred places at times of tragedy, often by entire families, whose aim is spiritual healing of the troubled or bereaved (G. Bettels, pers, comm; see also Spier 1930:94).

The location of the quest was not random, but reflected what could be termed a spiritual geography, a world view in which specific spirits or powers dwelt in particular points within mountains, lakes, or rivers. "Spirits are legion and in many cases are localized, so that one looking over the countryside finds it rich in religious connotation" (Spier 1930:100).

Certain individuals pursued the spirit quest to a much greater degree, developing powers which set them apart as extraordinary individuals. As curers, diviners, and teachers these specialists (qyoqs)-predominantly but not invariably men--had a central place in Klamath life:

These "medicine-men" do not only treat the sick, but they arrange and preside over the "doctor-dances" in the communal dance house, are consulted for dreams, predict the weather, during the pond-lily harvest give advice on the more important incidents of tribal pursuits, and are much dreaded on account of their alleged power of sorcery. (Gatschet 1890: Pt, 2:135)

While the qyoqs had outstanding importance, outshining the chiefs until Euro-American influence altered the political balance, their powers were only intensified versions of the power that all individuals could seek.

These specialists have most commonly been termed shamans, for example by Spier (1930:107) and Stem (n.d.:45). However, as applied to the Klamath (or to any tribe of the region) the term requires qualification. Hultkrantz, in his study of American Indian religions, has contrasted two forms of supernatural curer, which he termed the visionary and the ecstatic:

we may distinguish , two main types of medicine man: the visionary, whose trance is light and whose clairvoyance is distinctive, and the ecstatic, who may converse with the spirits or depart from his own body in deep trance... Only the latter should really be called a shaman. (Hultkrantz 1979:87)

Shamanism in its strict sense describes a religious complex "in which specialists undertake to heal, guide, and prophesy through trance behavior and mystical night" (R. Winthrop 19911 s.v "shamanism"), a pattern best known from the circumpolar cultures, notably of Siberia. In the distinction posed by Hultkrantz, the qyoqs is a visionary, not an ecstatic. His (or her) key ability is possession of spirit songs, not entry into trance and mystical flight (see Spier 1930:109; cf Eliade 1964).

Klamath beliefs regarding the qyoqs (variously termed by Gatschet "conjurer" and "medicine-man") are nicely summarized in the following text:

Once man long ago spoke thus: over there is my bewitched wife, having fallen sick; you bewitched (her). Then an old man he sent out to call a conjurer [qyoqs]; and he started, the old man, to fetch the conjurer, and to call him out, helloed; and he heard the magic songs, conjurers' songs on the mountain, far away are these songs. Then goes the conjurer to treat (her), to the spot where she lies bewitched. Now he works on her, and sucks. A big thing comes out through (his) mouth; he orders (those present) to sing, while he would suck on with (his) mouth. Then he sucks out, and feels choked, and throws up again his sucked-out article; his expounder [lularkish = shaman's assistant] swallows (it). Now (after) he has swallowed (it), worse that (patient) being treated, in spite of, (she) is worse, she almost looks toward the spirit land. The conjurer starts to leave. wanting to retire because she turned worse, (and) the food not passing through (bowels). Hereupon he speaks thus whose own wife is sick for being bewitched, to the conjurer: "you have bewitched her." But the conjurer opposes denial [argues]: "not I did bewitch (her)! She had become sick (before)!" conjurer then so said. Now dies the woman. They struck (and) killed the conjurer for this woman being bewitched (and) having died. And the people [maklaks] cremated the woman killed by the conjurer; the conjurer they brought him back to (his) lodge and cremated (him). (2)

Shamans were ambiguous figures: capable of curing, but equally of turning their powers in malevolent directions. Here a man suspects his wife's illness to be the result of a shaman's sorcery. He finds the shaman, and brings him to his wife. For the Klamath, illness was assumed to result from intrusion of foreign objects, for example through a sorcerer's magic; accordingly, the shaman's cure involves "sucking out" such objects, which are conspicuously exhibited in the course of treatment. However, the patient turns worse and dies, confirming the husband's suspicions. The shaman is killed, and--in keeping with Klamath practice--both bodies are cremated.

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