Kam
The Turkic word for shaman, used among the Altai, Tuvan and Khakas peoples of southern Siberia.
Also: kham, qam, altai shaman, ham
Kam, written kham in Tuvan and qam in older Turkic sources, is the word for a shaman among Turkic-speaking peoples of the Altai, Tuva and Khakassia. A kam is believed to travel to the upper and lower worlds in trance, with the help of a hooped drum and a costume, to find a lost soul or ask spirits about illness or a hunt. Tuvan shamans also hold rites for the first fire of the year. Soviet campaigns closed shrines and punished shamans, and many lines were broken. After 1991, shamanic societies were re-founded in Tuva and Altai. Anthropologists note that revived practice mixes older customs with new ones, and that some performers work for tourists.