Editing Medicine man (section)

== Cultural context ==
{{sa|Heyoka}}
[[Image:Yupik shaman Nushagak.jpg|thumb|[[Yup'ik]] "medicine man exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy" in [[Nushagak, Alaska]], 1890s<ref name="fienupriordanphoto">Fienup-Riordan, Ann. (1994). ''Boundaries & Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup'ik Eskimo Oral Tradition''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, p. 206. [[Nushagak, Alaska|Nushagak]], located on [[Nushagak Bay]] of the Bering Sea in southwest [[Alaska]], is part of the territory of the [[Central Alaskan Yup'ik people|Yup'ik]], speakers of the [[Central Alaskan Yup'ik language]].</ref>]]

In the ceremonial context of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas#North America|Indigenous North American communities]], "[[White magic|medicine]]" usually refers to spiritual healing. Medicine people use many practices, including specialized knowledge of [[Native American ethnobotany]].<ref name=thomas>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=William Isaac |title=The relation of the medicine-man to the origin of the professional occupations |journal=The Decennial Publicatoins |date=1906 |volume=4 |issue=6 |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0ROAQAAMAAJ |publisher=University of Chicago}}</ref> Herbal healing is a common practice in many Indigenous households of the Americas;<ref name=Alcoze>Alcoze, Dr Thomas M.  "[https://www.bgci.org/resources/article/0429/ Ethnobotany from a Native American Perspective: Restoring Our Relationship with the Earth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104202906/https://www.bgci.org/resources/article/0429/ |date=4 January 2018 }}" in ''[[Botanic Gardens Conservation International]]'' Volume 1 Number 19 - December 1999</ref><ref name=Moerman>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0378-8741(79)90002-3|title=Symbols and selectivity: A statistical analysis of native american medical ethnobotany|journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology|volume=1|issue=2|pages=111–119|year=1979|last1=Moerman|first1=Daniel E.|pmid=94415|hdl=2027.42/23587|url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23587/1/0000549.pdf|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name=USDA>Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, "[http://na.fs.fed.us/stewardship/pubs/biodiversity/sustaining-lives-natural-world.pdf Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Sustaining Our Lives and the Natural World]" at ''[[United States Department of Agriculture]], Forest Service''. Newtown Square, PA. December 2011</ref> however, medicine people often have more in-depth knowledge of using plants for healing or other purposes.<ref name=thomas/>

The terms ''medicine people'' or ''ceremonial people'' are sometimes used in [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] and [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] communities, for example, when Arwen Nuttall ([[Cherokee]]) of the [[National Museum of the American Indian]] writes, "The knowledge possessed by medicine people is privileged, and it often remains in particular families."<ref name="nmai">National Museum of the American Indian. ''Do All Indians Live in Tipis?'' Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-06-115301-3}}.</ref>

Native Americans tend to be quite reluctant to discuss issues about medicine or medicine people with non-Indians. In some cultures, the people will not even discuss these matters with American Indians from other tribes. In most tribes, medicine elders are prohibited from advertising or introducing themselves as such.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} As Nuttall writes, "An inquiry to a Native person about religious beliefs or ceremonies is often viewed with suspicion."<ref name="nmai"/> One example of this is the [[Apache]] medicine cord or {{lang|apa|[[Izze-kloth]]}} whose purpose and use by Apache medicine elders was a mystery to nineteenth century ethnologists{{who?|date=March 2025}} because "the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them."<ref name="ref69jeviq">{{Citation | title=Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Issue 9 | author=Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology | publisher=Government Printing Office, United States Government, 1892 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C5MqAAAAMAAJ | quote=''There is probably no more mysterious or interesting portion of the religious or 'medicinal' equipment of the Apache Indian, whether he be medicine-man or simply a member of the laity, than the 'izze-kloth' or medicine cord... the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them....''| year=1892 }}</ref>

The term ''medicine man/woman'', like the term ''[[Shamanism|shaman]]'', has been criticized by Native Americans, as well as other specialists in the fields of religion and anthropology.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

While non-Native anthropologists often use the term ''shaman'' for Indigenous healers worldwide, including the Americas, ''shaman'' is the specific name for a spiritual mediator from the [[Tungusic peoples]] of [[Siberia]],<ref>Smith, C. R. [http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/shaman.html "Shamanism."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212200839/http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/shaman.html |date=12 February 2012 }} ''Cabrillo College''. (Retrieved 28 June 2011)</ref> which has been adopted by some Inuit communities but is not preferred by Native American or First Nations communities.