From Harva's Survey of Permian Religion
This is the fifth part of a series of translations from Uno Holmberg's Permalaisten uskonto (The Religion of the Permian Peoples; Helsinki, 1914) — the foundational Finnish-language survey of Votjak (Udmurt) and Komi-Zyrian religion. The first part, "Komi-Zyrian and Votjak Sacred Cosmology," covers the three-layered cosmos, the sky gods Inmar and Jen, and the water spirits. The second, "Forest Spirits and the Sacred Bear," covers the forest spirit nules-murt, the malign beings, and the bear as ancestor. The third, "Nature Deities and Seasonal Rites," covers the sun-mother, earth-mother, thunder-mother, and the grain-soul. The fourth, "Household Spirits and the Birth-Deity," covers the korka-murt, the barn and bathhouse spirits, and the birth-deity Kilt'shin. This fifth part translates Holmberg's final chapter — the disease spirits that haunt the Permian world, and the tuno, the shaman-seer who stands between the visible and invisible worlds, who falls into ecstatic trance, dances with sword and whip, and names the priests whom the spirits have chosen.
The tuno is the last echo of the old Finno-Ugric shaman. By Holmberg's time the full ecstatic tradition survived only in fragments — the trance was remembered but rarely witnessed, the sacred gusli music was fading, and the tuno's authority was being eroded by Russian missionaries and modern scepticism. Yet the accounts Holmberg gathered from Bogaevskij, Jelabuzhskij, Pervuhin, Wichmann, and others preserve the outline of the institution with remarkable clarity: the hereditary calling, the year of madness during which the spirits taught the initiate, the invulnerability of the fully trained seer to fire, steel, and water, and the trance dance in which the tuno fell and cried out the names of those whom the spirits had chosen as priests. Among the Komi-Zyrians, the great shaman Pam — "famous sorcerer, chief of the enchanters, eldest of the spell-casters" — was not only a religious leader but a war-chief, judge, and defender of the ancestral ways against the Christian missionary Stephen of Perm.
I. Disease Spirits
The influence of spirits extends, in the Votjak understanding, to all areas of life. Their capricious will manifests in many trivial matters, but above all every misfortune is believed to be caused by them. Diseases in particular are their punishments. We have already noted that the Votjaks call illnesses caused by spirits by the name mizh. One cannot recover from these by outward means, but solely through blood sacrifice. The sacrifice must be performed in whichever sanctuary the disease-sender is believed to inhabit. According to the spirit's dwelling-place, such diseases receive specific names: kuala-mizh, lud-mizh, and kulem-murt mizh. That the word mizh and its associated concepts date back to the common Permian era is demonstrated by the fact that the Zyrians too use it when speaking of diseases believed to be sent by the dead or by the saints of the church.
Besides those bound to specific holy places, there exists a great host of spirit-beings believed to wander restlessly everywhere as malign, disease-spreading plague-spirits. Among these are the üi vetlis-minis ("night-wanderer"), which in name corresponds to the Russian midnight spirit (polunotshnik) but which, in that it sucks blood from the sleeping body leaving blue marks on the skin, resembles the vampire spirits; and the süs-juis ("eating-drinking one"), for which the Votjaks, in the manner of the Chuvash, set food atop the gatepost. To the former a duck is sacrificed at a child's birth, for otherwise the child may fall ill with the falling sickness. Another malign, nocturnal disease-spirit that is the object of worship is the aktash, which, having come from the Tatars, is known mainly among the eastern and southern Votjaks. The kil' must also be mentioned — a universally feared fever-spirit whose name, like the Zyrian kul' (water-spirit), corresponds to the Finnish koljo (giant, devil).
From the personification of the disease itself, on the other hand, have arisen such disease-spirits as the ague-causer ked'zeg, from which the Votjaks, when they know it to be moving through their village, have the custom — like the Tatars — of hiding; and the smallpox, which they, like their neighbours, call "mother" (t'satsa-mumi). The former the Votjaks both appease with sacrifices and attempt to drive away by secretly firing a gun near the sick person or by making small wooden dolls, which they cast into the forest, into the water, or at a three-way crossroads, saying: "trouble that one, not the sick one!" For the latter they slaughter a white sheep in the yard, whose bones and part of the blood are burned in fire, or they merely soothe the disease-mistress by placing pancakes and bread under the sick person's pillow.
During severe illness it has additionally been customary to burn some of the sick person's hair along with the sacrifice, whereupon the sick person renounces their old name and receives a new one given by the seer. Even human sacrifice has not been unknown among the Votjaks in such circumstances.
By the common name t'ser the Votjaks designate malign epidemics, a word that is simultaneously the name of the disease-spirit itself. In the form of a dog or cat, t'ser travels from village to village and afflicts humans and animals alike; it is above all a disease of horses. Connected with this disease-spirit the Votjaks have certain peculiar sacrificial customs. Pervuhin relates that when a horse is sacrificed to t'ser, the meat is not eaten but left in pieces at the sacrificial site. The hide, in which the head is left whole, is stuffed with brushwood and set upon four stakes the height of a horse, so that the sacrifice has exactly the appearance of a living horse. A similar sacrifice is described by Vereshtshagin. A peculiar custom is also that the animal is not killed at the time of sacrifice. Thus the Votjaks treat chickens, which during illness they tie alive to the field-fence, or, if they live in a forested region, drive into the forest with bound wings. A very common practice is additionally to bury a dog alive during an epidemic. The name of the disease-spirit, borrowed from the Tatar language, shows from which direction these concepts and sacrificial customs came to the Votjaks.
Foreign customs also appear in another sacrificial practice by which the Votjaks attempt to free themselves from the ravages of plague. Already Georgi knows to relate that when plague appears in a Votjak village, a black sheep is slaughtered on the riverbank as a sacrifice. While the meat is boiling, each householder goes with a stick into his dwelling, where he strikes about him saying: "leave my home!" After that a dog or cat is shot in the village and dragged to the sacrificial site. The writer says the sacrificial ceremony is called orvas.
Nowadays the urves festival is celebrated in most Votjak regions once a year, either in spring or autumn; only Vereshtshagin knows it to be held in the Sarapul district twice — at the end of December and June. At present it is mostly just a young people's entertainment, whose original purpose has been forgotten. On the sacrifice day the young folk collect a little meat, eggs, and groats from each household and go late in the evening to the nearest stream bank, where they cook porridge. Often the urves festival has still been accompanied by merry disease-driving ceremonies. From the former custom of collecting animal ears and feet for the sacrificial stew, the ceremony has received the name pel-sion ("eating of ears").
Of the obscure origin of the urves sacrifice, the Mamadysh Votjaks have preserved an interesting tradition, according to which the sacrificial ceremony in former times took place only on the occasion of some severe epidemic. All the people of the village, great and small alike, would gather at the edge of a ravine, where a small tunnel was dug into the sandy hill. Through this all had to pass hand in hand, one after another, with the seer (tunot'shi) himself leading the way at the head of the procession. After that the dog that first caught the crowd's eye was slaughtered. Moreover, a friction-fire was kindled and a black sheep sacrificed at the same place.
When speaking of diseases caused by natural forces, the Votjaks use the word kuton ("contagion"). Thus they call, as has already been mentioned, eye disease shundi-mumi-kuton ("sun-mother's contagion") and illness from water vu-kuton ("water contagion").
But there are examples even of their having personified the contagion itself and thus formed for themselves new special spirits. Such personified disease-spirits are, among others, vu-kutis and vu-vozho ("water-wrath"), which have arisen from the fact that diseases caused by water's wrath have come to be considered personal, though not human-like, beings. Sacrifice is offered to them into the water just as when sacrificing to the water itself. The sacrificial site is a small grove on the bank of a river or stream, which the Votjaks, because they sacrifice to vozho there, call vozho-inti ("vozho-place").
II. The Seer
The last-mentioned diseases are, in the Votjak understanding, easily cured, for their symptoms are obvious. Far more difficult, however, is recovering from diseases caused by the vengeful malice of hostile spirits. Not just anyone is master of healing those, since it is often hard to determine who has caused the illness, in which sanctuary the sacrifice must be performed, and what kind of sacrifice is needed on each occasion. In such cases the Votjaks turn to a special seer-figure, the tuno, whom they regard as a mediator between the visible and invisible worlds.
Already Muller in his time knew of seers called tona or tuno. He says they are grey-bearded old men whom the common people greatly honour, as if they knew future events in advance or as if they had a secret connection with God. The writer reports that tuno may also be female. However, not every Votjak village has a seer; often four or even more villages share one.
The Votjaks turn to the seer in all life's difficult circumstances. Not only illness, but also lesser troubles — the disappearance of cattle, the search for forest game, or the recovery of stolen goods — may compel a person to seek the seer's help. In modern times the tuno investigates the matters brought before him chiefly by means of divination tools. Already Rytshkov in the 1700s relates that the tuno, in order to learn what sacrifice must be offered for an illness, fills a wooden spoon with water, places a silver coin in it, and by gazing at the coin investigates the will of the gods. Without distinguishing between the Votjaks, Cheremis, and Chuvash, Muller reports that all three peoples have the custom of investigating unknown matters by means of 41 beans, which the seer scatters on a table. From the position of the beans the seer determines at what time, in whose company, and with what sacrifices the petitioner must appease the angered deity. From wine poured into a bowl or snuff poured into the hand the writer says the seers also divine dark matters.
A very common means of divination is additionally the casting of a swinging axe or spindle. Divination by spindle (t'sersen tunaskon) is performed by laying on the table, facing each other in a square, two pieces of bread and an equal number of coals. Whichever of these objects the spindle, dangling from the seer's hand and swinging above them, finally approaches — from this the Votjaks draw conclusions regarding the matter under investigation. Sometimes the seer holds the spindle merely above the palm of his hand, observing upon which finger the divining pendulum comes to rest; if it stops on the inner side, it portends misfortune or death. These divination methods, most of which are very common and known also to the Zyrians and preserved in practice right down to our own days, do not, however, descend from truly ancient times. A more original method of inquiry is "dream-setting" (vet ponon), which is performed by the petitioner placing some object belonging to him — a scarf or hat — under the seer's head for the night, whereupon the seer believes he sees what ails the person and how the matter may be helped.
III. The Tuno's Trance and the Election of Priests
The true old Finno-Ugric shaman, such as the northernmost peoples — the Lapps and the Ostyaks — possessed right down to the most recent times, we no longer find among the Votjaks. Yet from certain accounts describing how a new clan-kuala priest is to be chosen for his office, it is clear that the era when even this people had their seers who fell into ecstatic trance is not so very distant. The following remarkable description is given by Bogaevskij from the Sarapul district:
When new sacrificial priests are to be chosen, a tuno is sought, who is usually brought from so far away that he does not personally know any of the villagers. He is fetched from home ceremonially, with bells jingling, in a pair- or troika-drawn sleigh. Meanwhile, in the village copious amounts of beer and kumyshka are brewed, and the inhabitants prepare to receive the honoured guest by bathing in the sauna.
The ceremony itself takes place either in the clan-kuala, if the season is summer, or in winter in some other suitable room. When the tuno arrives, he too is first taken to the sauna, during which time the people assemble at the ceremony site. When all are gathered, a gusli player appears and begins to pluck the strings of his instrument. On this occasion no other kind of instrument is ever used, and the melodies themselves are sacred sacrificial airs. In the room, on a table covered with a white cloth, are three loaves of bread and bottles of kumyshka, which each family that worships at the clan-kuala in question has brought with them; sometimes there is also beer. After bathing in the sauna, the seer dresses in white garments, and a white towel is wound about his head. Now the former kuala-priest places a silver coin on the table, which his wife gives to the seer. The seer puts it into a wooden cup containing kumyshka and begins to chant. Around the shaman the former sacrificial priests gather, and they gird him with a white hand-towel. After chanting for a time, the seer rises and begins to dance to the accompaniment of the gusli, holding in his hand a sabre and a whip whose handle must without fail be of meadowsweet, since the evil spirit in the Votjak understanding fears that bush. Some report that the dance takes place around a sword that has been driven into the floor in the middle of the dwelling. During the dance the seer, becoming more and more excited, falls and cries out the names of the future sacrificial priests, each time asking whether such a person exists. If not, the seer is raised up, the dance continues, and he continues to cry out new names until he no longer receives a negative answer to his question.
Equally remarkable is the account given by Jelabuzhskij, describing how the Votjaks, having for some time worshipped at a neighbouring village's clan-kuala, wished to establish their own. In order to know where the sanctuary was to be founded, a tuno had to be sought. His task was also to choose the sacrificial priests and their assistants. When the seer arrived in the village, all assembled in a designated house. The seer seated himself at a table where there was a water-cup and began to gaze into it. After gazing for a long time he spoke: "I cannot see whom God chooses as your sacrificial priest; truly you must greatly trouble me. Tie a hand-towel around my waist and tighten it as much as your strength allows." The crowd did as the seer commanded, and soon the tuno fell on his back to the floor, lying in a trance for half an hour. Seeing this, the others were so frightened that they too fell to their knees. When he recovered from his ecstatic sleep, the seer clenched his fingers into a fist and urged those standing around to open them. But no one present was willing to do so. Then the seer called three by name from the crowd. The first opened the forefinger — he became the vesasi (sacrificial priest). The second and third opened the next fingers, and they became the priest's assistants.
Not just anyone can take up the seer's calling. Usually the tuno inherits the disposition for the craft along with the title from his father. In any case he must spend a year, sometimes longer, as an apprentice of the spirits. To his neighbours' wonder the novice often leaves the district with no one knowing where he goes. Moreover, striking peculiarities manifest in the seer-in-training: at times he loses his reason, whips himself, screams, and so forth. Gradually he develops into a fully-formed tuno. Even his body, in the Votjak understanding, becomes over time so hardened that fire cannot burn him, nor steel nor water harm him. He can perform many kinds of wonders; thus he can, for instance, dance with a water-bowl on his head without a single drop spilling to the ground. He also has the extraordinary ability to sense the natural temperament and mood of any person; indeed he can name the name of any stranger. Moreover, all spirits and guardian-powers are at his command.
As is natural, an accomplished seer often wields great influence among his countrymen. His words are followed precisely. As an example Jelabuzhskij mentions the case when a tuno, after chanting, said to a certain farmer: "if you wish to grow rich, you must first burn your house" — and the man went at once and set fire to his dwelling, on account of which ten neighbouring houses also fell victim to the flames.
IV. The Zyrian Shaman and the Lesser Seers
That the Votjaks' kindred people, the Zyrians, also once had their seers who fell into ecstatic trance is clearly evident from certain accounts in the Life of Saint Stephen, in which they are said to believe that "on such a day and at such an hour" they receive knowledge of "what is happening in a distant region, in another city, in the ninth land." The seers can also release their god and thus bring ruin upon people. With incantations and spells they can cause "fits of sickness, torments, and burnings." The great shaman of the Zyrians could not be harmed even by the elements — by water or fire.
The old Permian shaman appears to have held a notable position even in the life of society. Pam, who during the time of Saint Stephen's mission was in Perm "a famous sorcerer, chief of the enchanters, eldest of the spell-casters," was the leader of his people not only in religious but also in worldly affairs. It is specifically stated that he was in the land of Perm "teacher and leader." He appears to have served also as war-chief and judge; he even had the power to pass sentences of death. As a zealous defender of the ways inherited from the fathers and of the national customs, Pam is one of the few heroes of the Finno-Ugric pagan age to have left his name in the chronicles.
Besides the true shaman, the tuno, the Votjaks have had still other lesser seers, whom they call pel'l'askis ("blower"). These may be either male or female, young or old. Just as with the tuno, their help is sought in many different needs — in cases of theft, illness, and other misfortunes. Above all the pel'l'askis is a folk-healer who cures the sick with popular remedies, but especially the reading of charms is his speciality. His peculiar name is explained as deriving from the fact that he, as it were, blows the words of the charm into the sick person's body. Most commonly the pel'l'askis heals only outward injuries; the plagues sent by spirits he cannot remove, because he, unlike the tuno, is not in contact with the spirit world. Buch remarks that everything the pel'l'askis can accomplish, the tuno can also do — but not the other way around.
Just as among the neighbouring peoples — the Russians, Chuvash, and Cheremis — the defining feature of the Votjak charms (pel'l'an) is the enumeration of impossible things. As an example, let us present a charm "against the corruption of a person" recorded by Wichmann:
If he has the manhood to stand head-upright against Inmar's lightning,
then let him succeed in corrupting this person.
If he has the manhood to fill the Emperor's treasury-vaults with his children,
then let him succeed in corrupting this person.
If he has the manhood to turn the course of the sun and moon backwards,
then let him succeed in corrupting this person.
If he has the manhood to make the millpond water run against the current,
then let him succeed in corrupting this person.
Both the tuno and the pel'l'askis may use their power not only for the benefit of their fellow humans but also to their harm. Indeed, the Votjaks believe there exist special persons who use their power solely for the ruin of others. These they call vedin or vedin-murt, whose most common time of activity is around Easter. Sometimes at other times too they travel in the form of a cat or dog through Votjak villages, doing evil. This latter superstition, which is known also among the Zyrians, appears from the sorcerer's name (Russian vedun) to have come to the Permian peoples from the Russians.
In destroying the pagan concepts and customs of the Permian peoples, Russian missionaries from the time of Saint Stephen onwards have met their greatest resistance from the seers, who as bearers of national tradition and zealous champions of the ancestral faith have fought more stubbornly than any others against the currents of the new age. Their worldview is reflected in the words of a Votjak elder that Pervuhin records: "God is one, but people worship Him in different ways; each people has its own religion, just as each tree has its own leaves."
Colophon
This is a Good Works Translation.
Source: Uno Holmberg (Harva), Permalaisten uskonto (Suomensuvun uskonto 2), Porvoo: Werner Söderström, 1914–15. Chapter 9: "Taudinhaltiat ja tietäjät" (Disease Spirits and Healers). Project Gutenberg #61164.
Translator: Vös III of the Tulku Lineage, with the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. Translated from Finnish. No English translation of this chapter has previously been published.
Note: Holmberg's Finnish text is a secondary scholarly account drawing on fieldwork reports by Müller, Rytshkov, Georgi, Pervuhin, Wichmann, Bogaevskij, Jelabuzhskij, Vereshtshagin, and others. Translating from Finnish into English constitutes a genuine act of translation from the source language. The charm text in Section IV is a translation of Wichmann's Finnish rendering of the Votjak original.
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Source Text (Finnish)
The source text for this translation is Uno Holmberg's Permalaisten uskonto, Chapter 9: "Taudinhaltiat ja tietäjät," as published in Project Gutenberg eBook #61164. The full Finnish text is freely available at:
Lines 7508–7831 of the Project Gutenberg text file.
Source Colophon
Uno Holmberg (Harva), Permalaisten uskonto (Suomensuvun uskonto 2). Porvoo: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö, 1914–15. Project Gutenberg eBook #61164, released 2020. Public domain.
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