Footprints of Shamanism in Afghanistan

Abstract

Shamanism is a set of beliefs and social traditions of ancient Turks, which includes religious beliefs, basic healing methods, stories about the world and its creation, customs and traditions in funerals, births and marriages, and other issues. Most of the beliefs in this belief system are influenced by the way of life of the Turks, and its roots go back to 20,000 years back. Despite the deep cultural changes among the Turks, including changing the religion several times and mixing with other cultures, shamanism has continued to be present in various forms. Until today, there are many shamanistic customs and habits among Muslim Turks and their close relatives, which includes Afghanistan and especially its northern parts. This article seeks to find traces of shamanistic beliefs and traditions in today's Afghan society. This search was done based on the objective observations of the author and in the light of the works that collected shamanistic beliefs under a single belief system. The scientific research that this study relies on is the works of Western, Turkish, and Persian-speaking researchers. Therefore, the method of this research is descriptive-analytical, and the method of comparing scientific findings about shamanism with existing social habits of the people of northern Afghanistan has also been used. The area under study is the research of the northern provinces of Afghanistan and especially the social customs of the people of Takhar Province in today's conditions. In this article, an attempt has been made to examine the historical and religious roots of many social beliefs and customs of the people of northern Afghanistan, which are mostly considered imaginary and unknown, and to determine their connection with ancient shamanistic beliefs.