Song Heping. A preliminary analysis of the oral Shamanistic songs of the Manchus

Oral Tradition, 16/2 (2001): 207-221.Shamanistic oral traditions in the form of primitive religion have come down to the present from ancient societies in the remote past, and have already become standardized as folk religions and beliefs among various ethnic groups. In this article I address Manchu shamanistic songs in Northeastern China, with an analytical eye to their oral form and content, looking at how they are represented. Shamanistic songs are also divided into home shamanistic songs and wild shamanistic songs by type. The term home identifies a god or rite or song closely associated with a particular clan, whereas wild designates a god or rite or song outside the sphere of any clan.