Spiritual Culture

The Ulchi saw mountains, rivers, lakes, and hunting grounds as living entities; all elements of nature, animals, birds, and fishes had an immortal soul and had their master spirits. Specific deities personified the cosmos, earth, sun, moon, and stars. The universe consisted of three worlds: the upper, or heavenly, world populated by heavenly people; the middle world populated by earthly, mortal people; the lower world, or the world of the dead. Additionally, the Ulchi had an underwater world called Temun. Heavenly people were patrons and judges of earthly people, they taught them moral precepts, a humane attitude to each other, to master spirits, and to nature.

Shamans were the keepers of worldview values. They were special people selected after the death of a powerful shaman by the late shaman’s patron spirits Ayami and Edekhi and by the late shaman’s relatives. The claimant had to be different from “regular” people in demonstrating particular intelligence, intuition, showmanship, and desire to help people. Shaman’s attributes were a drum and a belt, shaman’s clothing and a hat, a staff, sticks with wood shavings, an object used for divination, and a structure to be used in rites and rituals. The sounds of the drum served to summon shamanic spirits and intimidate evil beings. The same role was played by the sounds that the metal pieces on the shaman’s belt made during shamanic dances. Mirrors and pendants served as a shield against the nefarious doings of evil spirits. A wooden or metal staff was topped with the image of the head of the patron helper. Shamans would sacrifice to their spirits, “treat” them to the blood and meat of domestic and wild animals and birds, and offer them tobacco and alcohol. Those rituals were performed next to ritual structures such as pillars.

The Ulchi believed the souls of humans and animals to have an immortal essence that was transmitted from generation to generation. A person’s death was viewed as that person’s soul changing its dwelling. The Ulchi would choose a dog or a bear cub as a temporary vessel for the soul of a dead person; they would make an anthropomorphic figure and would make bedding and a pillow for it. These vessels were kept until the shamanic ritual of sending the soul off to the underworld. Only a very powerful shaman could perform this ritual once every two or three years. At the end of the ritual, the dead person’s relatives would throw the figure that had served as the vessel for the dead person’s soul into the fire and thereby bid it the final farewell.

Once every two to three years, the most powerful shamans performed the undivu rite to replenish their power, to cleanse camping areas and dwellings by driving away harmful forces and beings. The shaman would go into every house where owners would meet him with Labrador tea infusion or use it to fumigate the house. The shaman would make a single round dancing to the sounds of the drum and the clanging of pendants on his belt. In conclusion, all members of the rite led by the shaman would make a round of the house together and dance.

The Ulchi had a body of folk knowledge of nature, the human being, and their society. This knowledge reflected the spiritual persona of fishermen and hunters and developed ways of raising the young generation. While hunting, the Ulchi were greatly helped by their skills of orienting by river currents, wind directions, and heavenly bodies: Polaris, the Milky Way, and the Ursa Major constellation. To determine the time of the day, they gauged the sun’s position. They divided the year into periods named after the arrival of birds, the start of the pink salmon and the chum salmon fishing season, hunting with snares, etc. The Ulchi had a lunar calendar where the year was divided into twelve months by moon phases. Folk measuring systems played a big part in Ulchi’s activities. The Ulchi knew medicines for treating heart defects, tumors, seasickness, smallpox, abscesses, tuberculosis, dysentery, and mental disorders. The Ulchi used over 60 plant species for medicinal purposes.

Ulchi’s traditional burial culture featured several ways of burying the dead: coffins would be placed on tree stumps, on pile-mounted daises, and under awnings. They could also leave the bodies in epidemic-afflicted camping areas. People could also be buried in the ground in dugout coffins or in coffins made of boards. When people went missing, the Ulchi would bury a doll instead of a body. The Ulchi’s funeral rites are unique in that even until now, they erect on the grave a small flat pointed board with curving side cutouts. A hole would be made in its middle section, and at the wake, a lit pipe or cigarette would be inserted in it to offer tobacco to the dead person’s soul.

The Bear Holiday was so important for Ulchi that sculptures connected with this element of their worldview formed a special part of their culture. The defining elements here are the ritual of playing the musical log, setting up a log house for keeping the bear, ritual dippers for feeding the animal in captivity, ritual dishware, and barns for storing the holiday’s ritual attributes.