medicine man

A medicine man (from Ojibwe ''mashkikiiwinini'') or medicine woman (from Ojibwe ''mashkikiiwininiikwe'') is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Each culture has its own name in its language for spiritual healers and ceremonial leaders.

Cultural context

In the ceremonial context of Indigenous North American communities, "medicine" usually refers to spiritual healing. Medicine people use many practices, including specialized knowledge of Native American ethnobotany. Herbal healing is a common practice in many Indigenous households of the Americas;Alcoze, Dr Thomas M.
Ethnobotany from a Native American Perspective: Restoring Our Relationship with the Earth
" in '' Botanic Gardens Conservation International'' Volume 1 Number 19 - December 1999Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry,
Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Sustaining Our Lives and the Natural World
at ''United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service''. Newtown Square, PA. December 2011 however, medicine people often have more in-depth knowledge of using plants for healing or other purposes.

The terms ''medicine people'' or ''ceremonial people'' are sometimes used in Native American and First Nations communities, for example, when Arwen Nuttall (Cherokee) of the National Museum of the American Indian writes, "The knowledge possessed by medicine people is privileged, and it often remains in particular families."National Museum of the American Indian. ''Do All Indians Live in Tipis?'' Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2007. .

Native Americans tend to be quite reluctant to discuss issues about medicine or medicine people with non-Indians. In some cultures, the people will not even discuss these matters with American Indians from other tribes. In most tribes, medicine elders are prohibited from advertising or introducing themselves as such. As Nuttall writes, "An inquiry to a Native person about religious beliefs or ceremonies is often viewed with suspicion." One example of this is the Apache medicine cord or whose purpose and use by Apache medicine elders was a mystery to nineteenth century ethnologists because "the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them."

The term ''medicine man/woman'', like the term '' shaman'', has been criticized by Native Americans, as well as other specialists in the fields of religion and anthropology.

While non-Native anthropologists often use the term ''shaman'' for Indigenous healers worldwide, including the Americas, ''shaman'' is the specific name for a spiritual mediator from the Tungusic peoples of Siberia,Smith, C. R
"Shamanism."
''Cabrillo College''. (Retrieved 28 June 2011) which has been adopted by some Inuit communities but is not preferred by Native American or First Nations communities.

See also

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*Witch doctor

Notes

External links

{{Authority control

Religious occupations of the Indigenous peoples of North America
Traditional healthcare occupations
Shamanism of the Americas