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영어

There are two types of the bear ceremony practiced by the Orochi in Siberia which pray for rebirth or resurrection of bears. One type is the bear ceremony for wild bears and the other is for domesticated bears. The former is comprised of an initial, middle, and final part while the latter is comprised of a preliminary, initial, middle, and final part. Thus, they are structurally the same, only the latter includes the preliminary stage where a captive bear cub is raised. The bear ceremony of the Orochi in Siberia reflects two adversarial primitive thinking such as the metaphorical system of totemism and the metonymic system of an increase rite. The former forms similar relations between nature and culture such as the life cycle of bears and that of humans. This is the system that constructs the bear ceremony. In addition, it includes a lot of taboos, incantations and wishes for multiplication of totemic animals. These are also regarded as major elements of totemism. The latter forms contiguous relations between spirits and humans, nature and culture, and production and consumption. However, death of bears creates a gap in the contiguity, so the bear ceremony is held in order to restore the contiguous relations. Thus, the bear ceremony is the increase rite to seek rebirth or resurrection of the bears.