Himalayan Shaman of Northern Nepal

Year Published: 1966

Creator: John and Patricia Hitchcock

Complete Record: The influence of the Inner Shamanic tradition is clearly shown as the Shaman aids a client family by controlling spirits, foretelling the future, and sucking out intrusive objects. The film opens up with the Shaman, “Socrantes,” sanctifying a medallion with rice and then offering the rice in four different directions (north, south, east, west) in order to ensure a family’s crop will yield. There are shots of the Shaman in the desert brush looking for a particular flower and then using a pick axe to retrieve it. Once he has retrieved the flower, he meditates and chants with the rice, flower and medallion and breathes into this mixture in his hands. There are shots of a campfire for an extended period of time. There are shots of the Shaman drumming while the spirits speak through him while he wears an elaborate costume composed of a turban, bells on his belt loop, feathers on his back, various necklaces and other jewelry. The villagers and his clients watch him and surround him outside in a circle. The clients/villagers watch and listen to him while they pass a giant “cigar” and smoke. Once a certain spirit leaves the Shaman’s body, Socrantes calms down and stops drumming and rests. There is a scene following this of a villager feeding feed to chickens. Socrantes also answers questions that the clients/villagers might have regarding what they have just witnessed and what the spirit meant by what he said while talking through Socrantes. Here there are shots of the villagers’ clothing, turbans, hairstyles and babies. There is also a shot of a lamb tied to a post as part of a sacrificial process. Socrantes smells the breath of the lamb in order to see if it is acceptable to the house gods. Then the owners of the lamb sprinkle water on the lamb’s head as a promise to sacrifice it on the next festival day. Finally, Socrantes calls on the highest, most powerful spirit he knows, which is followed by shaking, dancing, drumming and convulsing on the floor violently. He then sucks the blood (”evil”) out of a client’s neck with a long stick-like straw. He then rinses his mouth by drinking water from a bronze cup and then spits the water out. Later, Socrantes purifies his mouth by eating a string lit by fire. Fade out. These scenes show the role of a Shaman’s energy, showmanship, entertainment and belief/hope for a village surviving on crops and agriculture alone. The final scene shows Socrantes taking off his costume: turban, jewelry, feathers, belt, etc. as an understanding of his role.