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In the culture of the San (also known Ju/'oansi or !Kung; formerly Bushmen), an indigenous people of Botswana and Namibia, healers are said to have practiced all manner of medicinal strategies. These range from drinking oral remedies containing plant and animal material, to making cuts on the body and rubbing in 'potent' substances, inhaling smoke of smouldering organic matter like certain twigs or animal dung, wearing parts of animals or 'jewellery' that 'makes them strong.' Most famously, San heal whilst in an altered state of consciousness in what is known as a 'trance dance' or 'healing dance'. These rituals are generally all-night events during which healers go into a trance in order to cure sickness. The illness can be physical or psychological for an individual or social within the community as a whole. They sometimes will tie offerings to animal spirits to the trees, or will use drums in order to contact animal and ancestor spirits.〔Isaacson, Rupert. "The Healing Land." Geographical 73.7; 7 (2001): 53.〕 San trance dances are intense affairs. Richard Katz, an associate professor from Harvard University says they have these four times a month, on average.〔Katz, Richard. “Accepting ‘Boiling Energy’.” Ethos. 10.4, (1982):344〕 In her book ''The Harmless People'' based on fieldwork in the 1950s, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas observed that the women sat in a circle around a fire, singing the medicine songs in several parts with falsetto voices and clapping their hands in a sharp, staccato rhythm. Men danced single-file around the fire taking very short, pounding steps in counterpoint to the rhythms of the singing and the clapping. The movement was accompanied by the sharp, high clatter of rattles—made from dry cocoons strung together with sinew cords—that were tied to their legs. The dance was a complicated pattern of voices and rhythms that was infinitely varied and precise. San people began learning these songs and dances when they were children and worked hard to develop these skills.〔Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall. The Harmless People. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. 132.〕 〔Gordon, Robert J. Picturing Bushmen. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1997. 112B.〕 ==Healing energy== Lorna Marshall, mother of Elizabeth, conducted six expeditions to the Kalahari in the 1950s for the purpose of studying the San. She wrote that as the dance intensified, the n/um, or energy, was thought to be activated in the bodies of those who heal (most were men). The n/um is so strong it can become dangerous. Healers experiencing this must not point their finger fixedly at anyone, especially a child, because a “fight” or “death thing” might go along their arm, leap into the child, and kill it.〔Marshall, Lorna. “The Medicine Dance of the Kung Bushmen.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 39.4 (1969): 347-381.〕 Katz says the women's singing of these powerful n/um songs helps “awaken” the n/um and the healer’s heart so they can begin to heal. The healer undergoes a transformation, which comes after a painful transition into an enhanced state of consciousness, called !kia. This connects the healer and their spiritual healing power with the community. When dancers are experiencing !kia, they can heal all those at the dance. !kia is considered a very special and extraordinary state.〔 〔Marshall Thomas, Elizabeth. The Old Way. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2006. 270.〕 The process of intensifying n/um and going into !kia can manifest itself in different ways. Isaacson says, “they sometimes dance themselves into a trance, sometimes screaming in pain, and other times laughing or singing.”〔 They can also suddenly fling their arms into the air and with a piercing shriek crash to the ground, as observed by Elizabeth Marshall.〔 The transformation experience was described to Richard Katz by an experienced healer, Kinachau, in the following quote:
Katz also states that in order to cure, people must learn to control their boiling n/um and to “pull out sickness” from the people. When they do this, they use the enhanced consciousness of !kia to see the things causing sickness, like “the death things God has put into the people.”〔 According to Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, the healer will begin by washing his hands in the fire. He then will place one hand on the person’s chest, and one on their back, and will “suck” the evil from them. The medicine man often shudders and groans as he does this, and then will suddenly “shriek the evil into the air.”〔 Katz states that if the person they are healing has a specific symptom, the healers' hands focus on sucking the evil out of that area, but if there are no symptoms of illness the healers’ fluttering and vibrating hands move lightly and sporadically over the person’s chest.〔 These happenings go on throughout the entire night. Elizabeth Marshall says people get tired, but they will not stop, because it is important to keep going until sunrise. Sometimes the younger people might have to leave the dance circle, but the older people never falter. When the first light of dawn shows on the horizon, they gather extra energy to will sing louder and dance faster. As the sun rises, the dance reaches a “final most powerful intensity”, and then will suddenly stop.〔 Sandy Gall, author of ''The Bushmen of Southern Africa'', states that after a healing dance they “collapse in exhaustion” until the next day, when, fully recovered, they share their trance experiences with one another.〔Gall, Sandy. "The Bushmen of the Kalahari." Ecologist 33.7 (2003): 28-31.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「San healing practices」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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