From: Sandy Petersen (sandyp@idgecko.idsoftware.com)
Date: Fri 13 Sep 1996 - 22:13:00 EEST
Henk L.
>I'd like to compare the attitude of Sorcerors and Shamans towards
The same applies to the shamans vs. sorcerers.
>spirits with that of the buffalo hunters of the North American
>plains.
>While the natives *knew* the buffalo intimately, and depended on it
>for their life, the white hunters with their rifles knew far better
>how to kill the animals.
This simply isn't true, Henk. An Amerind was as good as or
better than any white hunter. He had equally-good weapons (they
hunted with rifles, you know), was a better horseman, and knew
buffalo habits better. The only advantage the white man had over the
indian in killing buffalo was that there were more white men, and
they had no ecological restriction on killing all the buffalo they
wanted. If the Indians had wanted to exterminate the buffalo, they
could have done so far more efficiently than the whites.
For all the armchair ranting and moaning about how a shaman
out of his home area would be lost, and the false comparisons made to
an Inuit or Bushman placed into the wrong environment, it ain't so.
Example: Joerg or someone said that an Amerind hunter
transported to Africa would die from eating jungle food. No, he
wouldn't, Joerg -- he knows that there can be poisonous plants, since
he lives with them every day in North America. He is smart enough to
see which fruit and leaves are eaten by birds, and stick to those at
first. Or there was the concern over a naked Yanamamo placed into the
tundra, and how he'd freeze to death. He'd freeze to death no sooner
than an urban German placed naked into the arctic. If a Yanomamo was
forced into the arctic, he could wear furs and parkas just like the
residents. He'd have to be told that polar bear liver was bad to eat.
He'd be able to spear seals with minimal training -- the Yanomamo
know how to sit quietly in ambush for hours, just like the Inuit. He
can build himself a fire (how many of us can do the same). He knows
how to use the animal's hide, bones, meat, and fat to make useful
tools and clothing. He would be in _much_ better shape than you or I.
A shaman can travel all round the world and still use his
skills. He will be less effective in a far land than at home, but he
won't be a fish out of water. At worst, he'll be a fish transported
to a different lake.
Sandy
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