Manchu folk religion or Manchu traditional religion is the ethnic religion practiced by most of the Manchu people, the major- Tungusic group, in China. It can also be called Manchu shamanism by virtue of the word "shaman" being originally from Tungusic ''šamán'' ("man of knowledge"), later applied by Western scholars to similar religious practices in other cultures. It is an

animistic Animism (from Latin: ' meaning ' breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, ...

and

polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the ...

religion, believing in several

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...

and spirits, led by a universal sky god called ''Abka Enduri'' ("Sky God" or "God of Heaven"), also referred to as ''Abka Han'' ("Sky Khan" or "Khan of Heaven") and ''Abka Ama'' ("Sky Father"), originally ''Abka Hehe'' ("Sky Woman", by extension "Sky Mother") who is the source of all life and creation. Deities (''enduri'') enliven every aspect of nature, and the worship of these gods is believed to bring favour, health and prosperity. Many of the deities were originally Manchu

ancestors An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from w ...

, and people with the same surname are generated by the same god. Shamans are persons of unusual ability, strength and sensitivity, capable of perception and prediction of the ways of the gods. They are endowed with the social function to conduct the sacrificial ceremonies and approach the deities asking them intervention or protection. Because of their abilities the shamans are people of great authority and prestige. Usually, every Manchu kin has its own shaman. Manchu folk religious rites were standardised by the Qianlong Emperor (1736–96) in the "Manchu Sacrificial Ritual to the Gods and Heaven" (''Manjusai wecere metere kooli bithe''), a manual published in Manchu in 1747 and in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

(''Manzhou jishen jitian dianli'') in 1780. With the conquest of imperial power in China (

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

) the Manchu people gradually adopted

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

and assimilated into the Chinese religion, although Manchu folk religion persists with a distinct character within broader Chinese religion. Today Manchu Shamanism has between 700,000-900,000 followers.

History

Rituals

Study of Manchu religion usually distinguishes two types of ritual, "domestic" and "primitive", which can be performed in two cultic settings, "imperial" and "common". The domestic ritual primarily involves the sacrifices for the progenitors of lineages and is the most important, while the primitive ritual involves the sacrifices for zoomorphic gods. The ritual manual of Qianlong was an attempt to adapt all kins' ritual traditions to the style of the imperial kin's ritual tradition. This was only partially effective as common cults were preserved and revitalised over time. The ancestral ritual is the same in the common and imperial cults. It is composed of three main moments: the dawn sacrifice (Chinese: ''chaoji''), the sunset sacrifice (''xiji'') and the "light-extinguishing" sacrifice (''beidingji'') held at midnight. Both common and imperial rituals make use of the gods' pole (Chinese: ''shéngān'' or ''shénzhù'', Manchu: ''šomo'') as a means of establishing connection with Heaven. While the domestic ritual is bright and harmonious, the primitive or "wild" ritual is associated with darkness and mystery. Deities involved are not those of the sky, the earth or the ancestors, but are zoomorphic chthonic deities. With its reliance on techniques of ecstasy, the primitive ritual had long been discouraged by the court (Hong Taiji proscribed it as early as 1636).

Temples and gods

Manchu religious cults originally took place in shrines called ''tangse'' (Chinese: ''tángzi'', "hall"; or ''yèmiào'', "visitation temple")) but at least by 1673 all communal ''tangse'' were prohibited with the exception of the imperial cult building. Households continued their rituals at private altars called ''weceku''. Common cults gradually adopted deities from Chinese religion in addition to Tungusic gods. '' Guwan mafa'' ( ''Guāndì'', ''Divus'' Guan), whose martial character appealed to the Manchus, became one of the most beloved deities. Another popular cult was that of the Goddess ( ''Niángniáng'').

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