Shamanism among Alaska Natives was particularly important as it served to construct their special connection to their land, and a kinship with the animals with whom they share that land. Before the introduction of western culture and the religions that are now practiced in Alaska, there was a common spiritual connection made with the people to the land they occupied. The most common name for this connection is shamanism. Shamanism differs in every culture where it is practiced, in Alaska it is centered in the animals that are common in the area. Through the use of many myths, stories, and ceremonies these animals are personified and their spirits made tangible and in turn are deeply woven within the Native Alaska people today. It was through the shaman that the spirit world was connected to the natural world. A shaman in Alaska Native culture was a mediator, healer and the spirit worlds’ mouthpiece. Although shamanism is no longer popularly practiced, it was and continues to be the heart of the Native Alaskan people.
Native American majority and plurality in Alaska boroughs and census areas
Aleuts
The religion of the former Aleuts was an offshoot of the prevailing shamanistic beliefs common to the northern Inuit (formerly Eskimo) and to the tribes of northeastern Asia. They believed in the existence of a creator of everything visible and invisible, but did not connect him with the guidance of the world, and paid him no special worship. As rulers of their entire environment, they acknowledged two spirits, or kinds of spirits, who determined the fate of man in every respect.[1]
The earliest Aleuts worshiped light, the celestial bodies, and even the elements. They also believed that there were three worlds, to which they ascribed being and action. The first world, highest world, has no night or evening, and many people live there. The second, or middle world, is the earth. The third is subterranean and called lowest world.
The aboriginal Aleuts had no temples or idols, but there were holy or forbidden localities known as awabayabax. Here they made offerings to invisible spirits. Such holy places were found in every village, being usually a mound, or some prominent place or a crag, which women and young men were strictly prohibited from visiting, and especially from gathering the grasses for their basketry, or taking away stones. If any young person, either from audacity or curiosity, violated this restriction, such infraction was sure to be followed by terrible "wild" disease, speedy death, or at least insanity. Old men could visit these spots at certain times, but only for the purpose of making offerings.
Among the past-tie Aleuts were both shamans and shamanism. They were considered to be the intermediaries between the visible and invisible worlds, between men and spirits, and the Aleuts believed they were acquainted with demonology and could foretell the future and aid sufferers. And though they were not professional obstetricians, yet as magicians their services were in request in cases of difficult childbirth. Shamans were the aboriginal specialists in dealing with the supernatural. They cured the sick, foretold the future, brought success in hunting and warfare, and performed other similar tasks.[2]
The old Aleuts related that long before the advent of the Russians, the shamans predicted that White men with strange customs would come to them from beyond the edge of the sea, and that subsequently all Aleuts would become like the new arrivals and live according to their habits. They also saw, looking far into the future, a brilliant redness in the sky like a great new world, called arialiyaiyam akxa, containing many people resembling the newcomers.
Aleuts believed that death stemmed from both natural and supernatural causes. The dead were treated in a range of ways, including mummification and cave burial of high-ranking men, women, and children, burial in special stone and wooden burial structures, and interment in small holes in the ground adjacent to habitations. Spirits of deceased individuals continued to "live", although details of any notion of an afterlife or of reincarnation are scanty.[3]
Prior to contact, Aleut ceremonies were likely held in the winter. Through singing, dancing, drumming, and wearing masks, the people entertained themselves and honored deceased relatives. Social rank was likely bolstered through bestowal of gifts. Today, Aleut ceremonies are those of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Athabaskan
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The shaman within this culture was the middle-woman or man between spirits and the native peoples. Alaskan Athabaskan shamans guarded people against the effects of bad spirits. The shaman also diagnosed various illnesses and restored the health of those harmed by bad spirits. The shaman could also provide the valuable service of scapulimancy, which predicted the location of game when hunting was scarce.[4]
An infamous bad spirit was the Giyeg. The belief was that people became sick because Giyeg thought about them. The shaman's job was to distract Giyeg or else the person died.[5] Another well-known bad spirit was the Nahani, also known as the woodsman. The woodsman was believed to be the spirit of people who got lost in the woods.[4]
The human spirit was called the yega and upon death, the yega had to be properly guided to the afterlife. Athabaskans believed that human and animals were very similar in the past and their spirits communicated directly. If an animal was mistreated, then its respective spirit would wrack havoc on the lives of the offending Athabaskan. The lines of communication between spirits and Native Athabaskans were kept open using the shaman to translate. There are still spiritual beliefs about the connection between animals and humans prevalent in the Athabaskan culture. The raven is the most popular animal followed by the caribou, wolf and bear.[4]
Ceremonies were designated to protect, heal or cleanse. The energy generated by the people and more importantly the shaman dictated the connection with the spirits and effectiveness of results. A popular after-death ceremony being a potlatch, allowed for the shaman to offer a smooth transition to the yega of the deceased. Food, water, song and dance are all examples of goods offered to the yega.
Being the revered medicine woman/man, the shaman could use their power for either good or evil. People both feared and admired the shamans because of their extraordinary abilities. The most evil of shamans wielded their control over people through use of puppets, sometimes using them to send out threatening messages.[6]
When Christianity's influence started spreading, shamans lost credibility. Among the last attempts to keep shamanism alive is said to have been perpetuated by two Barrow shamans. The two said they had received a message from above which stated that a new developing shamanistic religion was better for them than the white man's religion. This rumor gained them some fans for a time but eventually they lost out to Christianity. It is said that one shaman converted to Christianity while the other committed suicide.[6]
As a few points of interest, in the Denaʼina peoples' eyes the "white man" could not be helped by the shaman because he was believed to have the soul of a deceased Indian within. Shamans had to demonstrate their powers in order to have credibility. Tales include flying through the air, being shot then coughing up the offending bullet, etc. Three great Shamans among Athabaskans are Otsioza of Nulato, Noidola'an of the Koyukuk and Kedzaludia of the Kokrines-Tanana Mission group. Shamanism is one aspect of Athabaskan culture that is not being revived due to its controversial methods but there are those who still privately practice it.[6]
Haida
To the Haida, the universe is composed of a multiplicity of interconnecting and overlapping layers. According to some, Haida once perceived the flat, circular Earth to be centred between a land above, supported by a pillar from the earth, and a watery underworld below.[7] Certain interpretations of ḵ'aygang.nga, the Haida canon of ancestral oral histories that were recited across generations by professional story-tellers, show the origins of the modern Haida worldview, which remains convoluted and complex, involving interlaced layers of tangible and intangible reality...[8][9] Many Haida believe in a supernatural world in which everything embodies a spirit including animals, medicines, mountains, lakes, and caves. Haida make offerings of tobacco, birds’ feathers and food to honour powerful supernatural beings and communicate with ancestors and ancestral guardians. Haida people honour the beings in supernatural and tangible realities through dances, songs, offerings, and private and public prayer. Dancing and singing is a way to express, teach, and learn about the world and the natural, supernatural and ancestral beings that inhabit it. Dance is a link to the supernatural world through which Haida can access and experience supernatural possession. In the past, should someone become possessed by an evil spirit, a sg̱aaga, a Haida shaman, could be brought to draw spirits forth from the body.[7][8][9]
Haida rattle
Some Haida people believe that they are protected by ancestral supernatural beings such as the bear, raven, and owl. They often depict these animals in their complex paintings, carvings, and tattoos, most recognizably in their carved totem poles which were made out of primarily Western Red Cedar trees. They pray, make offerings and strongly believe in their spirits' abilities to aid and protect them. In the past, the people relied on a sg̱aaga to help them contact and communicate with the supernatural world.
In Haida tradition the rites and secrets of the sg̱aaga's vocation were secret, and often required hereditary connections as well as complex and strenuous rites of passage to attain. The skills of the sg̱aaga were often obtained through an apprenticeship. The individual (most often a male, but in rare cases female) was "called" to being his tribes sg̱aaga or the title was passed on from an uncle.[10] When the hopeful felt he had prepared enough, he entered into the woods for eight days with only an assistant, where he meditated and fasted. After those eight days, if it was truly the aspirant’s fate to become a sg̱aaga, he would fall into a trance (sometimes after falling into unconsciousness) and receive a message from the supernatural world. After regaining consciousness, the sg̱aaga and the assistant would seek out a land otter and cut out a piece of its tongue. It became an amulet, wrapped in a piece of his clothing and the source of his land otter power.[10]
After the hopeful had become a sg̱aaga, he continued his rigid discipline, by bathing in icy water, exercising and drinking Devil's club juice, a native species of ginseng, daily.[10] Appearance was important to those who were sg̱aaga; they wore tunics that were soaked in seal oil, and around their neck hung a necklace with animal claws and various carved amulets. The Haida believed that the sg̱aaga's hair was the source of his power, thus it was never touched and left to grow long and often uncombed. When the sg̱aaga performed ceremonies, his face was blackened with coal. If the ceremony required that he or she be naked, their long hair that sometimes hung to the ground covered their bodies. Tools that accompanied the sg̱aaga to complete his rituals were an oval rattle and hollowed out bone if disease needed to be blown away.[10] Illness was believed to be caused by thoughts and behaviour that acted against nature, and was then called out by the sg̱aaga and then asked for the spirits to cleanse and heal the individual. The clairvoyant sg̱aaga could sense if the fierce Haida warriors could achieve victory over their enemies before the battle. Believing in reincarnation,[10] if a member of the tribe should pass away, the sg̱aaga was able to predict which newborn child would inherit the deceased spirit. A reincarnated spirit is called x̱anjii. Working through the power of another spirit the sg̱aaga risked losing his own identity or being possessed by it, thus he changed his contacts and disciplines often.[10]
With the introduction of smallpox, which Haida call Haayhiilaas, western religion, and ultimately residential schools, and much of Haida worldview was destroyed. Missionaries came along with the fur trade to Haida villages and taught or forced Haida people to speak, read and write English.[11] Through the introduction of western culture Haida lost some of their own. Most notably was the loss of their language, now only about a dozen elders still speak Haida language.[12] Before the missionaries Haida people kept remarkably accurate histories by memorizing the ḵ'aygang.nga word for word, reciting and passing them on through generations. Much of the ḵ'aygang.nga that survive or were recorded discuss events that could be over 14,000 years old, including events from the glacial era, like the separation of Haida Gwaii from the mainland.[13] These events are frequently confirmed by archeological findings. But after the purposeful obliteration of Haida way of being, tradition, language, art forms, rights and title by missionaries and US, Canadian, state, provincial and colonial governments, much was lost. Today Christianity remains prevalent among Haida, and the Russian Orthodox missionaries came to the Southern Alaskan shore in the 18th century where small congregations are still active.
Tlingit
Shamanism has to do with the belief that the shaman is a mediator for the spiritual world. In various cultures the shaman's role is different; in that of Tlingit culture the shaman is a healer and seer. The shaman performs various rituals and ceremonies and helps with civil disputes. The role of shaman is primarily inherited by a son or a grandson due to the fact they are already in possession of the drums and tools needed. Not everyone can be a shaman, but if one has the ability to become a shaman one is almost always forced into it.[citation needed] Though shamans are held with great respect and esteem, they are feared because of their ability to speak with the spiritual world and ability to use magic.[14]
Tlingit shaman
The shaman is referred to as íx̲t’, the way that the shaman looks in the Tlingit culture, wild, dirty appearance, with hair loosely hanging in strands, he is never touched by scissors or comb. A shaman has in his possession all kinds of decorative objects used throughout various ceremonies and rituals. For each spirit the shaman has a special mask, which he uses when he appeals to that spirit. To conjure a spirit, a wild dance may be performed around the fire during which violent contortions of the body take place. The shaman can cure sickness by driving out evil spirits, bring good weather, and bring about large fish runs. For services such as these he collects a good amount of pay, and in fact he always gets it in advance.[14]
When a shaman passes, his burial is also different from that of all other Tlingit. The body of a shaman is not ever supposed to decompose because one of his first spirits stays with him, so it dries like a dried salmon.
Every Tlingit has his own guardian spirit called tu kinaayéik (tu– 'their', kinaa – 'above', yéik – 'spirit helper'). An evil or unclean person is deserted by his spirit. All spirits like cleanliness, the sound of the drum and rattle. A shaman who wishes to summon the spirits must practice alone for three to twelve months and the house in which the performance is to take place must be carefully cleaned as well as the songs and the dances.[14]
Another duty of the shaman in Tlingit society is to expose witches. Witches, both men and women, are called naakws’aatí ('master of medicine') and are supposed to have learned their skills from Raven while he lived on Earth. A witch is someone who harms another through magic, or are a source of illness. The shaman helps the person who is the victim of this witchcraft by thoroughly cleaning their house, and finding their belongings that the witch stole to perform this act.
The ability of a shaman depends on the amount of spirits under his control and if he is a good shaman he can prosper, but if he does not maintain proper rapport with these spirits they might kill him. Every shaman in the Tlingit culture has his own spirits for whom there are special names and songs. He rarely inherits the spirits of ancestors, but they do occasionally appear to him and then the shaman makes a practice of entertaining them. Another belief is that the shaman has the power to throw his spirits into anyone who does not believe in him; and these people faint, or gets cramps. A shaman can bring better weather, the shaman will go into the water; if his hair gets wet, it will rain.[14]
↑ Enrico, John (1995). Skidegate Haida Myths and Histories. Haida Gwaii: Queen Charolotte Islands Museum Press. ISBN9780920651148.
1 2 3 4 The Tlingit Indians. University of Washington Press, 1956, p. 194-204.
Related Research Articles
Shamanism or samanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination, or to aid human beings in some other way.
Spirit possession is an unusual or an altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors which are purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, angels, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Haitian Vodou, Dominican 21 Divisions, Hinduism, Islam, Wicca, and Southeast Asian, African, and Native American traditions. Depending on the cultural context in which it is found, possession may be considered voluntary or involuntary and may be considered to have beneficial or detrimental effects on the host. In a 1969 study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, spirit possession beliefs were found to exist in 74% of a sample of 488 societies in all parts of the world, with the highest numbers of believing societies in Pacific cultures and the lowest incidence among Native Americans of both North and South America. As Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian churches move into both African and Oceanic areas, a merger of belief can take place, with demons becoming representative of the "old" indigenous religions, which the Christian ministers attempt to exorcise.
The Tlingit are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language, in which the name means 'People of the Tides'. The Russian name Koloshi or the related German name Koulischen may be encountered referring to the people in older historical literature, such as Grigory Shelikhov's 1796 map of Russian America. Tlingit people today belong to two federally recognized Alaska Native tribes: the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe.
Inuit religion is the shared spiritual beliefs and practices of the Inuit, an indigenous people from Alaska, northern Canada, parts of Siberia and Greenland. Their religion shares many similarities with some Alaska Native religions. Traditional Inuit religious practices include animism and shamanism, in which spiritual healers mediate with spirits. Today many Inuit follow Christianity, but traditional Inuit spirituality continues as part of a living, oral tradition and part of contemporary Inuit society. Inuit who balance indigenous and Christian theology practice religious syncretism.
Alaska Natives are the Indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures. They are often defined by their language groups. Many Alaska Natives are enrolled in federally recognized Alaska Native tribal entities, who in turn belong to 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations, who administer land and financial claims.
Neoshamanism refers to new forms of shamanism. It usually means shamanism practiced by Western people as a type of New Age spirituality, without a connection to traditional shamanic societies. It is sometimes also used for modern shamanic rituals and practices which, although they have some connection to the traditional societies in which they originated, have been adapted somehow to modern circumstances. This can include "shamanic" rituals performed as an exhibition, either on stage or for shamanic tourism, as well as modern derivations of traditional systems that incorporate new technology and worldviews.
Raven Tales are the traditional human and animal creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They are also found among Athabaskan-speaking peoples and others. Raven stories exist in nearly all of the First Nations throughout the region but are most prominent in the tales of the Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit and Tahltan people.
Indigenous Philippine folk religions are the distinct native religions of various ethnic groups in the Philippines, where most follow belief systems in line with animism. Generally, these indigenous folk religions are referred to as Anito or Anitism or the more modern and less ethnocentric Dayawism, where a set of local worship traditions are devoted to the anito or diwata, terms which translate to gods, spirits, and ancestors. 0.23% of the population of the Philippines are affiliated with the indigenous Philippine folk religions according to the 2020 national census, an increase from the previous 0.19% from the 2010 census.
Prehistoric Alaska begins with Paleolithic people moving into northwestern North America sometime between 40,000 and 15,000 years ago across the Bering Land Bridge in western Alaska; a date less than 20,000 years ago is most likely. They found their passage blocked by a huge sheet of ice until a temporary recession in the Wisconsin glaciation opened up an ice-free corridor through northwestern Canada, possibly allowing bands to fan out throughout the rest of the continent. Eventually, Alaska became populated by the Inuit and a variety of Native American groups. Trade with both Asia and southern tribes was active even before the advent of Europeans.
The Alaska Native Heritage Center is an educational and cultural institution for all Alaskans, located in Anchorage, Alaska. The center opened in 1999. The Alaska Native Heritage Center shares the heritage of Alaska's 11 major cultural groups. These 11 groups are the Athabaskan people, Eyak people, Tlingit people, Haida people, Tsimshian people, Unangax people (Aleut), Alutiiq people, Yup'ik, Cup'ik, Siberian Yupik, and Inupiaq.
Traditional Alaskan Native religion involves mediation between people and spirits, souls, and other immortal beings. Such beliefs and practices were once widespread among Inuit, Yupik, Aleut, and Northwest Coastal Indian cultures, but today are less common. They were already in decline among many groups when the first major ethnological research was done. For example, at the end of the 19th century, Sagdloq, the last medicine man among what were then called in English, "Polar Eskimos", died; he was believed to be able to travel to the sky and under the sea, and was also known for using ventriloquism and sleight-of-hand.
The philosophy and religion of the Tlingit, although never formally codified, was historically a fairly well organized philosophical and religious system whose basic axioms shaped the way all Tlingit people viewed and interacted with the world around them. Between 1886 and 1895, in the face of their shamans' inability to treat Old World diseases, including smallpox, many Tlingit people converted to Orthodox Christianity. It has been argued that they saw Eastern Orthodox Christianity as a way of resisting assimilation to the "American way of life", which was associated with Presbyterianism. Russian Orthodox missionaries had translated their liturgy into the Tlingit language. After Christianization, the Tlingit belief system began to erode.
The history of the Tlingit includes pre- and post-contact events and stories. Tradition-based history involved creation stories, the Raven Cycle and other tangentially-related events during the mythic age when spirits transformed back and forth from animal to human and back, the migration story of arrival at Tlingit lands, and individual clan histories. More recent tales describe events near the time of the first contact with Europeans. European and American historical records come into play at that point; although modern Tlingit have access to those historical records, however, they maintain their own record of ancestors and events important to them against the background of a changing world.
A Soulcatcher or soul catcher is an amulet (Aatxasxw) used by the shaman (Halayt) of the Pacific Northwest Coast of British Columbia and Alaska. It is believed by Tsimshian that all soulcatchers were constructed by the Tsimshian tribe, and traded to the other tribes.
Alaska Native cultures are rich and diverse, and their art forms are representations of their history, skills, tradition, adaptation, and nearly twenty thousand years of continuous life in some of the most remote places on earth. These art forms are largely unseen and unknown outside the state of Alaska, due to distance from the art markets of the world.
The Jivaroan peoples are the indigenous peoples in the headwaters of the Marañon River and its tributaries, in northern Peru and eastern Ecuador. The tribes speak the Chicham languages.
Alaska Natives are a group of indigenous people that live in the state of Alaska and trace their heritage back to the last two great migrations that occurred thousands of years ago. The Native community can be separated into six large tribes and a number of smaller tribes, including the Iñupiat, Yup'ik, Aleut, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and others. Even with just a small number of communities that make up the entire population, there were more than 300 different languages that the Natives used to communicate with one another.
The Tanana Athabaskans, Tanana Athabascans or Tanana Athapaskans are an Alaskan Athabaskan peoples of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. They are the original inhabitants of the Tanana River drainage basin in east-central Alaska Interior, United States and a little part lived in Yukon, Canada. Tanana River Athabaskan peoples are called in Lower Tanana and Koyukon language Ten Hʉt'ænæ, in Gwich'in language Tanan Gwich'in. In Alaska, where they are the oldest, there are three or four groups identified by the languages they speak. These are the Tanana proper or Lower Tanana and/or Middle Tanana, Tanacross or Tanana Crossing, and Upper Tanana. The Tanana Athabaskan culture is a hunter-gatherer culture and have a matrilineal system. Tanana Athabaskans were semi-nomadic and as living in semi-permanent settlements in the Tanana Valley lowlands. Traditional Athabaskan land use includes fall hunting of moose, caribou, Dall sheep, and small terrestrial animals, and also trapping. The Athabaskans did not have any formal tribal organization. Tanana Athabaskans were strictly territorial and used hunting and gathering practices in their semi-nomadic way of life and dispersed habitation patterns. Each small band of 20–40 people normally had a central winter camp with several seasonal hunting and fishing camps, and they moved cyclically, depending on the season and availability of resources.
Traditional Alaska Native medicine is a cultural style of healing that has been passed down from one generation of Alaska Native peoples to the next and is based on success over time and oral tradition. In contrast to an allopathic or western view of medicine, traditional Alaska Native medicine believes that illness stems from an individual's disharmony with the environment and healing must therefore begin in the person's spirit.
Shamanism is a religious practice present in various cultures and religions around the world. Shamanism takes on many different forms, which vary greatly by region and culture and are shaped by the distinct histories of its practitioners.
References
Ransom, Jay Ellis (1945). "Aleut Religious Beliefs: Veniaminov's Account". The Journal of American Folklore. American Folklore Society. 58: 346–49.
Veltre, Douglas W. "Aleut". Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
Krause, Aurel (1956). The Tlingit Indians. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp.194–204.
Kan, Sergei (1999). Memory Eternal: Tlingit Culture and Russian Orthodox Christianity Through Two Centuries. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp.220–50.
"Shamans" LItSite Alaska. U of Anchorage, Alaska, n.d. Web. April 13, 2011.
Langdon, Steve J. (2002). The Native People of Alaska. Anchorage: Greatland Graphics.
DeWilde, Lillian. Personal interview. April 2, 2011.
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