Karuk – A people indigenous to northwestern California who typically refer to their shamanic healers and ritualists as “doctors,” êem. Traditionally considering themselves to live at the center of the world, their primary ritual (recently revived) is the “Fix the Earth” ceremony (sometimes called “world renewal”). This and other ceremonies may be considered to be living persons in their own right, communicating and caring for the animist community of humans and other-thanhuman persons. Julian Lang’s Ararapíkva (1994) translates creation stories told to John Harrington in 1926 and includes details about sucking cures, songs, basket weaving, and medicine plants.
SOURCE:
Historical Dictionary of Shamanism by Graham Harvey and Robert J. Wallis 2007
