SHAKERS

In Ecclesiastical History, a sect said to have originated by a sece ion from the body of Quakers, in 1747, in Lancashire; who received their nickname from the peculiar contortions of body which they adopted in their religious exercises. Anne Lee, the great female leader of this sect, joined the society in 1758; and considering herself persecuted in England, went, with a few followers, to New York in 1774, and died ten years afterwards, at which time her sect had made great progre in America. She was considered as the woman spoken of in Revelations. The sect appears to have fallen into obscurity, although a few congregations still remain. SH.\ LE. A crumbling variety of slate. SHA'.MANlSM,orSCHAMANISM. A general name applied to the idolatrous religions of a number of barbarous tribes, comprehending those of Finnish race,— theOstiaks, Samojeds, and other inhabitants of Siberia as far as the Pacific ocean. These nations generally believe in a Supreme Being, but to whom they attribute little share in the immediate government of the world: this is in the hands of a number of secondary gods, both benevolent and malevolent towards man. They appear to have very ivicertain and fluctuating opinions respecting these last. Thus, those tribes which dwell on the frontier of Ru ia are said to admit Saint Nicholas among their gods. The shamans or priests po e the power of propitiating such as are malignant. These priests arc called by rarious names in different tribes. The general belief respecting another life appears to be, that the condition of man will be poorer and more wretched than in the present; hence death is an object of great dread. Women are esteemed 1110 SHEKEL. very inferior to men by all these nations. The magic drum of the priests is well known. For one of the latent accounts of these remote people, see Von WrangeVs Journey to the Polar Sea. SHAMMY, or [s. 1123]