Section 5. Killing the Sacred Bear.
DOUBT also hangs at first sight over the meaning of the bear-sacrifice
offered by the Aino or Ainu, a primitive people who are found in the
Japanese island of Yezo or Yesso, as well as in Saghalien and the
southern of the Kurile Islands. It is not quite easy to define the attitude of the
Aino towards the bear. On the one hand they give it the name of kamui or
"god"; but as they apply the same word to strangers, it may mean no more
than a being supposed to be endowed with superhuman, or at all events
extraordinary, powers. Again, it is said that "the bear is their chief divinity";
"in the religion of the Aino the bear plays a chief part"; "amongst the
animals it is especially the bear which receives an idolatrous veneration";
"they worship it after their fashion"; "there is no doubt that this wild beast
inspires more of the feeling which prompts worship than the inanimate
forces of nature, and the Aino may be distinguished as bear-worshippers."
Yet, on the other hand, they kill the bear whenever they can; "in bygone
years the Ainu considered bear-hunting the most manly and useful way in
which a person could possibly spend his time"; "the men spend the autumn,
winter, and spring in hunting deer and bears. Part of their tribute or taxes is
paid in skins, and they subsist on the dried meat"; bear's flesh is indeed
one of their staple foods; they eat it both fresh and salted; and the skins of
bears furnish them with clothing. In fact, the worship of which writers on this
subject speak appears to be paid chiefly to the dead animal. Thus,
although they kill a bear whenever they can, "in the process of dissecting
the carcass they endeavor to conciliate the deity, whose representative
they have slain, by making elaborate obeisances and deprecatory
salutations"; "when a bear has been killed the Ainu sit down and admire it,
make their salaams to it, worship it, and offer presents of inao"; "when a
bear is trapped or wounded by an arrow, the hunters go through an
apologetic or propitiatory ceremony." The skulls of slain bears receive a
place of honour in their huts, or are set up on sacred posts outside the
huts, and are treated with much respect: libations of millet beer, and of
sake, an intoxicating liquor, are offered to them; and they are addressed as
"divine preservers" or "precious divinities." The skulls of foxes are also
fastened to the sacred posts outside the huts; they are regarded as charms
against evil spirits, and are consulted as oracles. Yet it is expressly said,
"The live fox is revered just as little as the bear; rather they avoid it as
much as possible, considering it a wily animal." The bear can hardly,
therefore, be described as a sacred animal of the Aino, nor yet as a totem;
for they do not call themselves bears, and they kill and eat the animal
freely. However, they have a legend of a woman who had a son by a bear;
and many of them who dwell in the mountains pride themselves on being
descended from a bear. Such people are called "Descendants of the bear"
(Kimun Kamui sanikiri), and in the pride of their heart they will say, "As for
me, I am a child of the god of the mountains; I am descended from the
divine one who rules in the mountains," meaning by "the god of the
mountains" no other than the bear. It is therefore possible that, as our
principal authority, the Rev. J. Batchelor, believes, the bear may have
been the totem of an Aino clan; but even if that were so it would not explain
the respect shown for the animal by the whole Aino people. 1
But it is the bear-festival of the Aino which concerns us here. Towards
the end of winter a bear cub is caught and brought into the village. If it is
very small, it is suckled by an Aino woman, but should there be no woman
able to suckle it, the little animal is fed from the hand or the mouth. During
the day it plays about in the hut with the children and is treated with great
affection. But when the cub grows big enough to pain people by hugging or
scratching them, he is shut up in a strong wooden cage, where he stays
generally for two or three years, fed on fish and millet porridge, till it is time
for him to be killed and eaten. But "it is a peculiarly striking fact that the
young bear is not kept merely to furnish a good meal; rather he is regarded
and honoured as a fetish, or even as a sort of higher being." In Yezo the
festival is generally celebrated in September or October. Before it takes
place the Aino apologise to their gods, alleging that they have treated the
bear kindly as long as they could, now they can feed him no longer, and
are obliged to kill him. A man who gives a bear-feast invites his relations
and friends; in a small village nearly the whole community takes part in the
feast; indeed, guests from distant villages are invited and generally come,
allured by the prospect of getting drunk for nothing. The form of invitation
runs somewhat as follows: "I, so and so, am about to sacrifice the dear little
divine thing who resides among the mountains. My friends and masters,
come ye to the feast; we will then unite in the great pleasure of sending the
god away. Come." When all the people are assembled in front of the cage,
an orator chosen for the purpose addresses the bear and tells it that they
are about to send it forth to its ancestors. He craves pardon for what they
are about to do to it, hopes it will not be angry, and comforts it by assuring
the animal that many of the sacred whittled sticks (inao) and plenty of cakes
and wine will be sent with it on the long journey. One speech of this sort
which Mr. Batchelor heard ran as follows: "O thou divine one, thou wast
sent into the world for us to hunt. O thou precious little divinity, we worship
thee; pray hear our prayer. We have nourished thee and brought thee up
with a deal of pains and trouble, all because we love thee so. Now, as thou
hast grown big, we are about to send thee to thy father and mother. When
thou comest to them please speak well of us, and tell them how kind we
have been; please come to us again and we will sacrifice thee." Having
been secured with ropes, the bear is then let out of the cage and assailed
with a shower of blunt arrows in order to arouse it to fury. When it has spent
itself in vain struggles, it is tied up to a stake, gagged and strangled, its
neck being placed between two poles, which are then violently
compressed, all the people eagerly helping to squeeze the animal to death.
An arrow is also discharged into the beast's heart by a good marksman, but
so as not to shed blood, for they think that it would be very unlucky if any
of the blood were to drip on the ground. However, the men sometimes drink
the warm blood of the bear "that the courage and other virtues it possesses
may pass into them"; and sometimes they besmear themselves and their
clothes with the blood in order to ensure success in hunting. When the
animal has been strangled to death, it is skinned and its head is cut off and
set in the east window of the house, where a piece of its own flesh is
placed under its snout, together with a cup of its own meat boiled, some
millet dumplings, and dried fish. Prayers are then addressed to the dead
animal; amongst other things it is sometimes invited, after going away to its
father and mother, to return into the world in order that it may again be
reared for sacrifice. When the bear is supposed to have finished eating its
own flesh, the man who presides at the feast takes the cup containing the
boiled meat, salutes it, and divides the contents between all the company
present: every person, young and old alike, must taste a little. The cup is
called "the cup of offering" because it has just been offered to the dead
bear. When the rest of the flesh has been cooked, it is shared out in like
manner among all the people, everybody partaking of at least a morsel; not
to partake of the feast would be equivalent to excommunication, it would be
to place the recreant outside the pale of Aino fellowship. Formerly every
particle of the bear, except the bones, had to be eaten up at the banquet,
but this rule is now relaxed. The head, on being detached from the skin, is
set up on a long pole beside the sacred wands (inao) outside of the house,
where it remains till nothing but the bare white skull is left. Skulls so set up
are worshipped not only at the time of the festival, but very often as long as
they last. The Aino assured Mr. Batchelor that they really do believe the
spirits of the worshipful animals to reside in the skulls; that is why they
address them as "divine preservers" and "precious divinities." 2
The ceremony of killing the bear was witnessed by Dr. B. Scheube on the
tenth of August at Kunnui, which is a village on Volcano Bay in the island
of Yezo or Yesso. As his description of the rite contains some interesting
particulars not mentioned in the foregoing account, it may be worth while to
summarize it. 3
On entering the hut he found about thirty Aino present, men, women, and
children, all dressed in their best. The master of the house first offered a
libation on the fireplace to the god of the fire, and the guests followed his
example. Then a libation was offered to the house-god in his sacred corner
of the hut. Meanwhile the housewife, who had nursed the bear, sat by
herself, silent and sad, bursting now and then into tears. Her grief was
obviously unaffected, and it deepened as the festival went on. Next, the
master of the house and some of the guests went out of the hut and offered
libations before the bear's cage. A few drops were presented to the bear in
a saucer, which he at once upset. Then the women and girls danced round
the cage, their faces turned towards it, their knees slightly bent, rising and
hopping on their toes. As they danced they clapped their hands and sang
a monotonous song. The housewife and a few old women, who might have
nursed many bears, danced tearfully, stretching out their arms to the bear,
and addressing it in terms of endearment. The young folks were less
affected; they laughed as well as sang. Disturbed by the noise, the bear
began to rush about his cage and howl lamentably. Next libations were
offered at the inao (inabos) or sacred wands which stand outside of an
Aino hut. These wands are about a couple of feet high, and are whittled at
the top into spiral shavings. Five new wands with bamboo leaves attached
to them had been set up for the festival. This is regularly done when a bear
is killed; the leaves mean that the animal may come to life again. Then the
bear was let out of his cage, a rope was thrown round his neck, and he
was led about in the neighbourhood of the hut. While this was being done
the men, headed by a chief, shot at the beast with arrows tipped with
wooden buttons. Dr. Scheube had to do so also. Then the bear was taken
before the sacred wands, a stick was put in his mouth, nine men knelt on
him and pressed his neck against a beam. In five minutes the animal had
expired without uttering a sound. Meantime the women and girls had taken
post behind the men, where they danced, lamenting, and beating the men
who were killing the bear. The bear's carcase was next placed on the mat
before the sacred wands; and a sword and quiver, taken from the wands,
were hung round the beast's neck. Being a she-bear, it was also adorned
with a necklace and ear-rings. Then food and drink were offered to it, in
the shape of millet-broth, millet-cakes, and a pot of sake. The men now sat
down on mats before the dead bear, offered libations to it, and drank deep.
Meanwhile the women and girls had laid aside all marks of sorrow, and
danced merrily, none more merrily than the old women. When the mirth was
at its height two young Aino, who had let the bear out of his cage, mounted
the roof of the hut and threw cakes of millet among the company, who all
scrambled for them without distinction of age or sex. The bear was next
skinned and disembowelled, and the trunk severed from the head, to which
the skin was left hanging. The blood, caught in cups, was eagerly
swallowed by the men. None of the women or children appeared to drink
the blood, though custom did not forbid them to do so. The liver was cut in
small pieces and eaten raw, with salt, the women and children getting their
share. The flesh and the rest of the vitals were taken into the house to be
kept till the next day but one, and then to be divided among the persons
who had been present at the feast. Blood and liver were offered to Dr.
Scheube. While the bear was being disembowelled, the women and girls
danced the same dance which they had danced at the beginning-not,
however, round the cage, but in front of the sacred wands. At this dance
the old women, who had been merry a moment before, again shed tears
freely. After the brain had been extracted from the bear's head and
swallowed with salt, the skull, detached from the skin, was hung on a pole
beside the sacred wands. The stick with which the bear had been gagged
was also fastened to the pole, and so were the sword and quiver which
had been hung on the carcase. The latter were removed in about an hour,
but the rest remained standing. The whole company, men and women,
danced noisily before the pole; and another drinking-bout, in which the
women joined, closed the festival. 4
Perhaps the first published account of the bear-feast of the Aino is one
which was given to the world by a Japanese writer in 1652. It has been
translated into French and runs thus: "When they find a young bear, they
bring it home, and the wife suckles it. When it is grown they feed it with fish
and fowl and kill it in winter for the sake of the liver, which they esteem an
antidote to poison, the worms, colic, and disorders of the stomach. It is of a
very bitter taste, and is good for nothing if the bear has been killed in
summer. This butchery begins in the first Japanese month. For this purpose
they put the animal's head between two long poles, which are squeezed
together by fifty or sixty people, both men and women. When the bear is
dead they eat his flesh, keep the liver as a medicine, and sell the skin,
which is black and commonly six feet long, but the longest measure twelve
feet. As soon as he is skinned, the persons who nourished the beast begin
to bewail him; afterwards they make little cakes to regale those who helped
them." 5
The Aino of Saghalien rear bear cubs and kill them with similar
ceremonies. We are told that they do not look upon the bear as a god but
only as a messenger whom they despatch with various commissions to the
god of the forest. The animal is kept for about two years in a cage, and then
killed at a festival, which always takes place in winter and at night. The day
before the sacrifice is devoted to lamentation, old women relieving each
other in the duty of weeping and groaning in front of the bear's cage. Then
about the middle of the night or very early in the morning an orator makes a
long speech to the beast, reminding him how they have taken care of him,
and fed him well, and bathed him in the river, and made him warm and
comfortable. "Now," he proceeds, "we are holding a great festival in your
honour. Be not afraid. We will not hurt you. We will only kill you and send
you to the god of the forest who loves you. We are about to offer you a
good dinner, the best you have ever eaten among us, and we will all weep
for you together. The Aino who will kill you is the best shot among us.
There he is, he weeps and asks your forgiveness; you will feel almost
nothing, it will be done so quickly. We cannot feed you always, as you will
understand. We have done enough for you; it is now your turn to sacrifice
yourself for us. You will ask God to send us, for the winter, plenty of otters
and sables, and for the summer, seals and fish in abundance. Do not forget
our messages, we love you much, and our children will never forget you."
When the bear has partaken of his last meal amid the general emotion of
the spectators, the old women weeping afresh and the men uttering stifled
cries, he is strapped, not without difficulty and danger, and being let out of
the cage is led on leash or dragged, according to the state of his temper,
thrice round his cage, then round his master's house, and lastly round the
house of the orator. Thereupon he is tied up to a tree, which is decked with
sacred whittled sticks (inao) of the usual sort; and the orator again
addresses him in a long harangue, which sometimes lasts till the day is
beginning to break. "Remember," he cries, "remember! I remind you of your
whole life and of the services we have rendered you. It is now for you to do
your duty. Do not forget what I have asked of you. You will tell the gods to
give us riches, that our hunters may return from the forest laden with rare
furs and animals good to eat; that our fishers may find troops of seals on the
shore and in the sea, and that their nets may crack under the weight of the
fish. We have no hope but in you. The evil spirits laugh at us, and too often
they are unfavourable and malignant to us, but they will bow before you.
We have given you food and joy and health; now we kill you in order that
you may in return send riches to us and to our children." To this discourse
the bear, more and more surly and agitated, listens without conviction;
round and round the tree he paces and howls lamentably, till, just as the
first beams of the rising sun light up the scene, an archer speeds an arrow
to his heart. No sooner has he done so, than the marksman throws away
his bow and flings himself on the ground, and the old men and women do
the same, weeping and sobbing. Then they offer the dead beast a repast of
rice and wild potatoes, and having spoken to him in terms of pity and
thanked him for what he has done and suffered, they cut off his head and
paws and keep them as sacred things. A banquet on the flesh and blood of
the bear follows. Women were formerly excluded from it, but now they share
with the men. The blood is drunk warm by all present; the flesh is boiled,
custom forbids it to be roasted. And as the relics of the bear may not enter
the house by the door, and Aino houses in Saghalien have no windows, a
man gets up on the roof and lets the flesh, the head, and the skin down
through the smoke-hole. Rice and wild potatoes are then offered to the
head, and a pipe, tobacco, and matches are considerately placed beside
it. Custom requires that the guests should eat up the whole animal before
they depart; the use of salt and pepper at the meal is forbidden; and no
morsel of the flesh may be given to the dogs. When the banquet is over, the
head is carried away into the depth of the forest and deposited on a heap
of bears' skulls, the bleached and mouldering relics of similar festivals in
the past. 6
The Gilyaks, a Tunguzian people of Eastern Siberia, hold a bear-festival
of the same sort once a year in January. "The bear is the object of the most
refined solicitude of an entire village and plays the chief part in their
religious ceremonies." An old she-bear is shot and her cub is reared, but
not suckled, in the village. When the bear is big enough he is taken from
his cage and dragged through the village. But first they lead him to the
bank of the river, for this is believed to ensure abundance of fish to each
family. He is then taken into every house in the village, where fish, brandy,
and so forth are offered to him. Some people prostrate themselves before
the beast. His entrance into a house is supposed to bring a blessing; and if
he snuffs at the food offered to him, this also is a blessing. Nevertheless
they tease and worry, poke and tickle the animal continually, so that he is
surly and snappish. After being thus taken to every house, he is tied to a
peg and shot dead with arrows. His head is then cut off, decked with
shavings, and placed on the table where the feast is set out. Here they beg
pardon of the beast and worship him. Then his flesh is roasted and eaten in
special vessels of wood finely carved. They do not eat the flesh raw nor
drink the blood, as the Aino do. The brain and entrails are eaten last; and
the skull, still decked with shavings, is placed on a tree near the house.
Then the people sing and both sexes dance in ranks, as bears. 7
One of these bear-festivals was witnessed by the Russian traveller L. von
Schrenck and his companions at the Gilyak village of Tebach in January
1856. From his detailed report of the ceremony we may gather some
particulars which are not noticed in the briefer accounts which I have just
summarised. The bear, he tells us, plays a great part in the life of all the
peoples inhabiting the region of the Amoor and Siberia as far as
Kamtchatka, but among none of them is his importance greater than among
the Gilyaks. The immense size which the animal attains in the valley of the
Amoor, his ferocity whetted by hunger, and the frequency of his
appearance, all combine to make him the most dreaded beast of prey in the
country. No wonder, therefore, that the fancy of the Gilyaks is busied with
him and surrounds him, both in life and in death, with a sort of halo of
superstitious fear. Thus, for example, it is thought that if a Gilyak falls in
combat with a bear, his soul transmigrates into the body of the beast.
Nevertheless his flesh has an irresistible attraction for the Gilyak palate,
especially when the animal has been kept in captivity for some time and
fattened on fish, which gives the flesh, in the opinion of the Gilyaks, a
peculiarly delicious flavour. But in order to enjoy this dainty with impunity
they deem it needful to perform a long series of ceremonies, of which the
intention is to delude the living bear by a show of respect, and to appease
the anger of the dead animal by the homage paid to his departed spirit. The
marks of respect begin as soon as the beast is captured. He is brought
home in triumph and kept in a cage, where all the villagers take it in turns
to feed him. For although he may have been captured or purchased by one
man, he belongs in a manner to the whole village. His flesh will furnish a
common feast, and hence all must contribute to support him in his life. The
length of time he is kept in captivity depends on his age. Old bears are kept
only a few months; cubs are kept till they are full-grown. A thick layer of fat
on the captive bear gives the signal for the festival, which is always held in
winter, generally in December but sometimes in January or February. At
the festival witnessed by the Russian travellers, which lasted a good many
days, three bears were killed and eaten. More than once the animals were
led about in procession and compelled to enter every house in the village,
where they were fed as a mark of honour, and to show that they were
welcome guests. But before the beasts set out on this round of visits, the
Gilyaks played at skipping-rope in presence, and perhaps, as L. von
Schrenck inclined to believe, in honour of the animals. The night before
they were killed, the three bears were led by moonlight a long way on the
ice of the frozen river. That night no one in the village might sleep. Next
day, after the animals had been again led down the steep bank to the river,
and conducted thrice round the hole in the ice from which the women of the
village drew their water, they were taken to an appointed place not far from
the village, and shot to death with arrows. The place of sacrifice or
execution was marked as holy by being surrounded with whittled sticks,
from the tops of which shavings hung in curls. Such sticks are with the
Gilyaks, as with the Aino, the regular symbols that accompany all religious
ceremonies. 8
When the house has been arranged and decorated for their reception, the
skins of the bears, with their heads attached to them, are brought into it,
not, however, by the door, but through a window, and then hung on a sort
of scaffold opposite the hearth on which the flesh is to be cooked. The
boiling of the bears' flesh among the Gilyaks is done only by the oldest
men, whose high privilege it is; women and children, young men and boys
have no part in it. The task is performed slowly and deliberately, with a
certain solemnity. On the occasion described by the Russian travellers the
kettle was first of all surrounded with a thick wreath of shavings, and then
filled with snow, for the use of water to cook bear's flesh is forbidden.
Meanwhile a large wooden trough, richly adorned with arabesques and
carvings of all sorts, was hung immediately under the snouts of the bears;
on one side of the trough was carved in relief a bear, on the other side a
toad. When the carcases were being cut up, each leg was laid on the
ground in front of the bears, as if to ask their leave, before being placed in
the kettle; and the boiled flesh was fished out of the kettle with an iron hook,
and set in the trough before the bears, in order that they might be the first to
taste of their own flesh. As fast, too, as the fat was cut in strips it was hung
up in front of the bears, and afterwards laid in a small wooden trough on the
ground before them. Last of all the inner organs of the beasts were cut up
and placed in small vessels. At the same time the women made bandages
out of parti-coloured rags, and after sunset these bandages were tied
round the bears' snouts just below the eyes "in order to dry the tears that
flowed from them." 9
As soon as the ceremony of wiping away poor bruin's tears had been
performed, the assembled Gilyaks set to work in earnest to devour his flesh.
The broth obtained by boiling the meat had already been partaken of. The
wooden bowls, platters, and spoons out of which the Gilyaks eat the broth
and flesh of the bears on these occasions are always made specially for
the purpose at the festival and only then; they are elaborately ornamented
with carved figures of bears and other devices that refer to the animal or
the festival, and the people have a strong superstitious scruple against
parting with them. After the bones had been picked clean they were put
back in the kettle in which the flesh had been boiled. And when the festal
meal was over, an old man took his stand at the door of the house with a
branch of fir in his hand, with which, as the people passed out, he gave a
light blow to every one who had eaten of the bear's flesh or fat, perhaps as
a punishment for their treatment of the worshipful animal. In the afternoon
the women performed a strange dance. Only one woman danced at a time,
throwing the upper part of her body into the oddest postures, while she held
in her hands a branch of fir or a kind of wooden castanets. The other
women meanwhile played an accompaniment by drumming on the beams of
the house with clubs. Von Schrenk believed that after the flesh of the bear
has been eaten the bones and the skull are solemnly carried out by the
oldest people to a place in the forest not far from the village. There all the
bones except the skull are buried. After that a young tree is felled a few
inches above the ground, its stump cleft, and the skull wedged into the
cleft. When the grass grows over the spot, the skull disappears from view,
and that is the end of the bear. 10
Another description of the bear-festivals of the Gilyaks has been given us
by Mr. Leo Sternberg. It agrees substantially with the foregoing accounts,
but a few particulars in it may be noted. According to Mr. Sternberg, the
festival is usually held in honour of a deceased relation: the next of kin
either buys or catches a bear cub and nurtures it for two or three years till it
is ready for the sacrifice. Only certain distinguished guests (Narch-en) are
privileged to partake of the bear's flesh, but the host and members of his
clan eat a broth made from the flesh; great quantities of this broth are
prepared and consumed on the occasion. The guests of honour (Narch-en)
must belong to the clan into which the host's daughters and the other
women of his clan are married: one of these guests, usually the host's
son-in-law, is entrusted with the duty of shooting the bear dead with an
arrow. The skin, head, and flesh of the slain bear are brought into the
house not through the door but through the smoke-hole; a quiver full of
arrows is laid under the head and beside it are deposited tobacco, sugar,
and other food. The soul of the bear is supposed to carry off the souls of
these things with it on the far journey. A special vessel is used for cooking
the bear's flesh, and the fire must be kindled by a sacred apparatus of flint
and steel, which belongs to the clan and is handed down from generation
to generation, but which is never used to light fires except on these solemn
occasions. Of all the many viands cooked for the consumption of the
assembled people a portion is placed in a special vessel and set before the
bear's head: this is called "feeding the head." After the bear has been
killed, dogs are sacrificed in couples of male and female. Before being
throttled, they are fed and invited to go to their lord on the highest
mountain, to change their skins, and to return next year in the form of bears.
The soul of the dead bear departs to the same lord, who is also lord of the
primaeval forest; it goes away laden with the offerings that have been made
to it, and attended by the souls of the dogs and also by the souls of the
sacred whittled sticks, which figure prominently at the festival. 11
The Goldi, neighbours of the Gilyaks, treat the bear in much the same
way. They hunt and kill it; but sometimes they capture a live bear and keep
him in a cage, feeding him well and calling him their son and brother. Then
at a great festival he is taken from his cage, paraded about with marked
consideration, and afterwards killed and eaten. "The skull, jaw-bones, and
ears are then suspended on a tree, as an antidote against evil spirits; but
the flesh is eaten and much relished, for they believe that all who partake
of it acquire a zest for the chase, and become courageous." 12
The Orotchis, another Tunguzian people of the region of the Amoor, hold
bear-festivals of the same general character. Any one who catches a bear
cub considers it his bounden duty to rear it in a cage for about three years,
in order at the end of that time to kill it publicly and eat the flesh with his
friends. The feasts being public, though organised by individuals, the
people try to have one in each Orotchi village every year in turn. When the
bear is taken out of his cage, he is led about by means of ropes to all the
huts, accompanied by people armed with lances, bows, and arrows. At
each hut the bear and bear-leaders are treated to something good to eat
and drink. This goes on for several days until all the huts, not only in that
village but also in the next, have been visited. The days are given up to
sport and noisy jollity. Then the bear is tied to a tree or wooden pillar and
shot to death by the arrows of the crowd, after which its flesh is roasted and
eaten. Among the Orotchis of the Tundja River women take part in the
bear-feasts, while among the Orotchis of the River Vi the women will not
even touch bear's flesh. 13
In the treatment of the captive bear by these tribes there are features
which can hardly be distinguished from worship. Such, for example, are the
prayers offered to it both alive and dead; the offerings of food, including
portions of its own flesh, laid before the animal's skull; and the Gilyak
custom of leading the living beast to the river in order to ensure a supply of
fish, and of conducting him from house to house in order that every family
may receive his blessing, just as in Europe a May-tree or a personal
representative of the tree-spirit used to be taken from door to door in spring
for the sake of diffusing among all and sundry the fresh energies of reviving
nature. Again, the solemn participation in his flesh and blood, and
particularly the Aino custom of sharing the contents of the cup which had
been consecrated by being set before the dead beast, are strongly
suggestive of a sacrament, and the suggestion is confirmed by the Gilyak
practice of reserving special vessels to hold the flesh and cooking it on a
fire kindled by a sacred apparatus which is never employed except on
these religious occasions. Indeed our principal authority on Aino religion,
the Rev. John Batchelor, frankly describes as worship the ceremonious
respect which the Aino pay to the bear, and he affirms that the animal is
undoubtedly one of their gods. Certainly the Aino appear to apply their
name for god (kamui) freely to the bear; but, as Mr. Batchelor himself points
out, that word is used with many different shades of meaning and is applied
to a great variety of objects, so that from its application to the bear we
cannot safely argue that the animal is actually regarded as a deity. Indeed
we are expressly told that the Aino of Saghalien do not consider the bear to
be a god but only a messenger to the gods, and the message with which
they charge the animal at its death bears out the statement. Apparently the
Gilyaks also look on the bear in the light of an envoy despatched with
presents to the Lord of the Mountain, on whom the welfare of the people
depends. At the same time they treat the animal as a being of a higher
order than man, in fact as a minor deity, whose presence in the village, so
long as he is kept and fed, diffuses blessings, especially by keeping at bay
the swarms of evil spirits who are constantly lying in wait for people,
stealing their goods and destroying their bodies by sickness and disease.
Moreover, by partaking of the flesh, blood, or broth of the bear, the
Gilyaks, the Aino, and the Goldi are all of opinion that they acquire some
portion of the animal's mighty powers, particularly his courage and strength.
No wonder, therefore, that they should treat so great a benefactor with
marks of the highest respect and affection. 14
Some light may be thrown on the ambiguous attitude of the Aino to bears
by comparing the similar treatment which they accord to other creatures.
For example, they regard the eagle-owl as a good deity who by his
hooting warns men of threatened evil and defends them against it; hence he
is loved, trusted, and devoutly worshipped as a divine mediator between
men and the Creator. The various names applied to him are significant both
of his divinity and of his mediatorship. Whenever an opportunity offers, one
of these divine birds is captured and kept in a cage, where he is greeted
with the endearing titles of "Beloved god" and "Dear little divinity."
Nevertheless the time comes when the dear little divinity is throttled and
sent away in his capacity of mediator to take a message to the superior
gods or to the Creator himself. The following is the form of prayer addressed
to the eagle-owl when it is about to be sacrificed: "Beloved deity, we have
brought you up because we loved you, and now we are about to send you
to your father. We herewith offer you food, inao, wine, and cakes; take them
to your parent, and he will be very pleased. When you come to him say, `I
have lived a long time among the Ainu, where an Ainu father and an Ainu
mother reared me. I now come to thee. I have brought a variety of good
things. I saw while living in Ainuland a great deal of distress. I observed
that some of the people were possessed by demons, some were wounded
by wild animals, some were hurt by landslides, others suffered shipwreck,
and many were attacked by disease. The people are in great straits. My
father, hear me, and hasten to look upon the Ainu and help them.' If you do
this, your father will help us." 15
Again, the Aino keep eagles in cages, worship them as divinities, and ask
them to defend the people from evil. Yet they offer the bird in sacrifice, and
when they are about to do so they pray to him, saying: "O precious
divinity, O thou divine bird, pray listen to my words. Thou dost not belong
to this world, for thy home is with the Creator and his golden eagles. This
being so, I present thee with these inao and cakes and other precious
things. Do thou ride upon the inao and ascend to thy home in the glorious
heavens. When thou arrivest, assemble the deities of thy own kind together
and thank them for us for having governed the world. Do thou come again, I
beseech thee, and rule over us. O my precious one, go thou quietly."
Once more, the Aino revere hawks, keep them in cages, and offer them in
sacrifice. At the time of killing one of them the following prayer should be
addressed to the bird: "O divine hawk, thou art an expert hunter, please
cause thy cleverness to descend on me." If a hawk is well treated in
captivity and prayed to after this fashion when he is about to be killed, he
will surely send help to the hunter. 16
Thus the Aino hopes to profit in various ways by slaughtering the
creatures, which, nevertheless, he treats as divine. He expects them to
carry messages for him to their kindred or to the gods in the upper world; he
hopes to partake of their virtues by swallowing parts of their bodies or in
other ways; and apparently he looks forward to their bodily resurrection in
this world, which will enable him again to catch and kill them, and again to
reap all the benefits which he has already derived from their slaughter. For
in the prayers addressed to the worshipful bear and the worshipful eagle
before they are knocked on the head the creatures are invited to come
again, which seems clearly to point to a faith in their future resurrection. If
any doubt could exist on this head, it would be dispelled by the evidence
of Mr. Batchelor, who tells us that the Aino "are firmly convinced that the
spirits of birds and animals killed in hunting or offered in sacrifice come and
live again upon the earth clothed with a body; and they believe, further,
that they appear here for the special benefit of men, particularly Ainu
hunters." The Aino, Mr. Batchelor tells us, "confessedly slays and eats the
beast that another may come in its place and be treated in like manner";
and at the time of sacrificing the creatures "prayers are said to them which
form a request that they will come again and furnish viands for another
feast, as if it were an honour to them to be thus killed and eaten, and a
pleasure as well. Indeed such is the people's idea." These last
observations, as the context shows, refer especially to the sacrifice of
bears. 17
Thus among the benefits which the Aino anticipates from the slaughter of
the worshipful animals not the least substantial is that of gorging himself on
their flesh and blood, both on the present and on many a similar occasion
hereafter; and that pleasing prospect again is derived from his firm faith in
the spiritual immortality and bodily resurrection of the dead animals. A like
faith is shared by many savage hunters in many parts of the world and has
given rise to a variety of quaint customs, some of which will be described
presently. Meantime it is not unimportant to observe that the solemn
festivals at which the Aino, the Gilyaks, and other tribes slaughter the tame
caged bears with demonstrations of respect and sorrow, are probably
nothing but an extension or glorification of similar rites which the hunter
performs over any wild bear which he chances to kill in the forest. Indeed
with regard to the Gilyaks we are expressly informed that this is the case. If
we would understand the meaning of the Gilyak ritual, says Mr. Sternberg,
"we must above all remember that the bear-festivals are not, as is usually
but falsely assumed, celebrated only at the killing of a house-bear but are
held on every occasion when a Gilyak succeeds in slaughtering a bear in
the chase. It is true that in such cases the festival assumes less imposing
dimensions, but in its essence it remains the same. When the head and skin
of a bear killed in the forest are brought into the village, they are accorded
a triumphal reception with music and solemn ceremonial. The head is laid
on a consecrated scaffold, fed, and treated with offerings, just as at the
killing of a house-bear; and the guests of honour (Narch-en) are also
assembled. So, too, dogs are sacrificed, and the bones of the bear are
preserved in the same place and with the same marks of respect as the
bones of a house-bear. Hence the great winter festival is only an extension
of the rite which is observed at the slaughter of every bear." 18
Thus the apparent contradiction in the practice of these tribes, who
venerate and almost deify the animals which they habitually hunt, kill, and
eat, is not so flagrant as at first sight it appears to us: the people have
reasons, and some very practical reasons, for acting as they do. For the
savage is by no means so illogical and unpractical as to superficial
observers he is apt to seem; he has thought deeply on the questions which
immediately concern him, he reasons about them, and though his
conclusions often diverge very widely from ours, we ought not to deny him
the credit of patient and prolonged meditation on some fundamental
problems of human existence. In the present case, if he treats bears in
general as creatures wholly subservient to human needs and yet singles
out certain individuals of the species for homage which almost amounts to
deification, we must not hastily set him down as irrational and inconsistent,
but must endeavour to place ourselves at his point of view, to see things as
he sees them, and to divest ourselves of the prepossessions which tinge so
deeply our own views of the world. If we do so, we shall probably discover
that, however absurd his conduct may appear to us, the savage
nevertheless generally acts on a train of reasoning which seems to him in
harmony with the facts of his limited experience. This I propose to illustrate
in the following chapter, where I shall attempt to show that the solemn
ceremonial of the bear-festival among the Ainos and other tribes of
North-eastern Asia is only a particularly striking example of the respect
which on the principles of his rude philosophy the savage habitually pays
to the animals which he kills and eats. 19
