Alaska Native religion
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Traditional
Alaskan Native Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numb ...
religion involves mediation between people and spirits, souls, and other immortal beings. Such beliefs and practices were once widespread among
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
(including
Iñupiat The Iñupiat (or Inupiat, Iñupiaq or Inupiaq;) are a group of Alaska Natives, whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current ...
),
Yupik Yupik may refer to: * Yupik peoples, a group of indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Russian Far East * Yupik languages, a group of Eskimo-Aleut languages Yupꞌik (with the apostrophe) may refer to: * Yup'ik people The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg ...
,
Aleut The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...
, and Northwest Coastal Indian cultures, but today are less common. Merkur 1985: 4 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 Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...
and
sleight-of-hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, car ...
. Merkur 1985:134 The term "Eskimo" has fallen out of favour in Canada and Greenland, where it is considered
pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
and "Inuit" is used instead. However, "Eskimo" is still considered acceptable among some
Alaska Natives Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numbe ...
of Yupik and Inupiaq (Inuit) heritage and is at times preferred over "Inuit" as a collective reference. The
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
and
Yupik language The Yupik languages () are a family of languages spoken by the Yupik peoples of western and south-central Alaska and Chukotka. The Yupik languages differ enough from one another that they are not mutually intelligible, although speakers of one ...
s constitute one branch within the Eskimo–Aleut language family and the
Aleut language Aleut () or ''Unangam Tunuu'' is the language spoken by the Aleut living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, Commander Islands, and the Alaska Peninsula (in Aleut , the origin of the state name Alaska). Aleut is the sole language in the ...
is another. (The
Sirenik Eskimo language Sirenik Yupik, Sireniki Yupik (also Old Sirenik or Vuteen), Sirenik, or Sirenikskiy is an extinct Eskimo–Aleut language. It was spoken in and around the village of Sireniki (Сиреники) in Chukotka Peninsula, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, ...
is sometimes seen as a third branchLinguist List's description abou
Nikolai Vakhtin
s book
''The Old Sirinek Language: Texts, Lexicon, Grammatical Notes''
The author's untransliterated (original) name i

.
Representing genealogical relations of (among others) Eskimo–Aleut languages by tree

(found on the site o

)

(found on the site o

)
but sometimes as one of the Yupik languages.Ethnologue Report for Eskimo–Aleut
/ref>)


Angakkuq and other spiritual mediators

Most Alaskan Native cultures traditionally have some form of spiritual healer or ceremonial person who mediate between the spirits and humans of the community. The person fulfilling this role is believed to be able to command helping spirits, ask mythological beings (e.g., Nuliayuk among the
Netsilik Inuit The Netsilik (Netsilingmiut) are Inuit who live predominantly in Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven of the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut and to a smaller extent in Taloyoak and the north Qikiqtaaluk Region, in Canada. They were, in the early 20th century, am ...
and Takanaluk-arnaluk in Aua's narration) to "release" the souls of animals, enable the success of the hunt, or heal sick people by bringing back their "stolen" souls. Among the
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
this person is known as an '' angakkuq''. The ''alignalghi'' () of the
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
s is translated as "shaman" in Russian and English literature. Menovščikov 1968:442 While the word "shaman" comes from the
Tungusic language The Tungusic languages (also known as Manchu-Tungus and Tungus) form a language family spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria by Tungusic peoples. Many Tungusic languages are endangered. There are approximately 75,000 native speakers of the doz ...
, it is sometimes used by anthropologists when describing Alaskan Native beliefs.Kleivan & Sonne 1985Merkur 1985Vitebsky 2001 However, most traditional people prefer to use the terminology found in their own, traditional Native languages. Traditional spiritual beliefs among the Alaskan Native peoples exhibit some characteristic features not universal in cultures based in animism, such as soul dualism (a dualistic or pluralistic concept of the
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
) in certain groups, and specific links between the living, the souls of hunted animals and dead people.Oosten 1997: 86Vitebsky 1996:14 The death of either a person or a game animal requires that certain activities, such as cutting and sewing, be avoided to prevent harming their souls. In Greenland, the transgression of this "death taboo" could turn the soul of the dead into a ''
tupilaq In Greenlandic Inuit religion, a (, , or in Inuktitut syllabics) was an avenging monster fabricated by a practitioner of witchcraft or shamanism by using various objects such as animal parts (bone, skin, hair, sinew, etc.) and even parts tak ...
'', a
restless ghost In mythology and folklore, a vengeful ghost or vengeful spirit is said to be the spirit of a dead person who returns from the afterlife to seek revenge for a cruel, unnatural or unjust death. In certain cultures where funeral and burial or c ...
who scared game away. Animals were thought to flee hunters who violated taboos.
Chugach Chugach , Chugach Sugpiaq or Chugachigmiut is the name of an Alaska Native people in the region of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound on the southern coast of Alaska. The Chugach people are an Alutiiq (Pacific Eskimo) people who speak ...
spiritual healers may begin their work after an out-of-body experience, such as seeing oneself as a skeleton, exemplified in Aua's (
Iglulik Igloolik (Inuktitut syllabics: , ''Iglulik'', ) is an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, northern Canada. Because its location on Igloolik Island is close to Melville Peninsula, it is often mistakenly thought to be on the ...
) narration and a Baker Lake artwork


Special language

In some Alaskan Native communities, the spiritual people have used a distinctly archaic version of the community's normal language interlaced with special
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
s and speech styles. Merkur 1985:7Freuchen 1961:277 For example, "the shadow is ripening" means the healer is returning from his spiritual journey during a " seance". Expert healers have been said to speak whole sentences differing from vernacular speech. The shamans among the
Siberian Yupik people Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far northeast of the Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska. They speak Central Siberian Yupik ...
s had a special language that used
periphrastic In linguistics, periphrasis () is the use of one or more function words to express meaning that otherwise may be expressed by attaching an affix or clitic to a word. The resulting phrase includes two or more collocated words instead of one infl ...
substitutions for names of objects and phenomena; they used it for conversation with the ('spirits'). These spirits were believed to have a special language with certain substitutes for ordinary words ("the one with a drum": "shaman"; "that with tusks": "
walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped, flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in ...
").Bogoraz 1913
437, 442, 444, 446, 448–449
The Ungazighmiit (a Siberian Yupik people) had a special
allegoric As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
usage of some expressions. Observing the ''angakkuq'' Sorqaq's seance in a community at
Qaanaaq Qaanaaq (), formerly known as Thule or New Thule, is the main town in the northern part of the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is one of the northernmost cities and towns, northernmost towns in the world. The inhabitants of ...
, Peter Freuchen explains the motivation in that case: In this case, the special language was understood by the whole community, not restricted to the ''angakkuit'' or a few "experts". In some groups such variants were used when speaking with spirits invoked by the ''angakkuq'' and with unsocialised babies who grew into the human society through a special ceremony performed by the mother. Some writers have treated both phenomena as a language for communication with "alien" beings (mothers sometimes used similar language in a socialization ritual, in which the newborn is regarded as a little "alien" — just like spirits or animal souls). The motif of a distinction between spirit and "real" human is present in a tale of the Ungazighmiit. Another interesting example of the special language and its contribution to relexicalization:


Techniques

Techniques and ceremonies vary among cultures. Kleivan & Sonne: 25
Sleight-of-hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, car ...
,
ventriloquism Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...
Rasmussen 1965: 176 might be used to impress the audience. In some cultures the ''angakkuq'' was pinioned before the séance, Kleivan & Sonne: Pl XXX, XXXIII or the ''angakkuq'' might hide behind a curtain. Holding the séance in the dark with lamps extinguished was not obligatory, but the setting was familiar and widespread. Some authors suggest that an ''angakkuq'' could be honest in his tricks, believing in the phenomena he himself mimicked, moreover, he could consciously cheat and honestly believe at the same time.
Knud Rasmussen Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (; 7 June 1879 – 21 December 1933) was a Greenlandic–Danish polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" (now often known as Inuit Studies or Greenlandic and Arctic Studies ...
mentioned Arnaqaoq, a young
Netsilik Inuit The Netsilik (Netsilingmiut) are Inuit who live predominantly in Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven of the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut and to a smaller extent in Taloyoak and the north Qikiqtaaluk Region, in Canada. They were, in the early 20th century, am ...
living in
King William Island King William Island (french: Île du Roi-Guillaume; previously: King William Land; iu, Qikiqtaq, script=Latn) is an island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, which is part of the Arctic Archipelago. In area it is between and making it the ...
. He smeared himself with the blood of a seal or reindeer, telling people that he had a battle with spirits. Rasmussen conjectured that he could honestly believe in this spirit battle experience which he mimicked with smearing blood. The personal impression of Rasmussen about this man was that he believed in the forces and spirits. As Rasmussen asked him to draw some pictures about his experiences, even his visions about spirits, Arnaqaoq was first unwilling to do so (having fear of the spirits). Later he accepted the task, and he spent hours to re-experience his visions, sometimes so lucidly that he had to stop drawing when his whole body began to quiver. Rasmussen 1965: 165–166


Social position

The boundary between ''angakkuq'' and lay person has not always been clearly demarcated. Non-''angakkuq'' could experience
hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...
s, and almost every Alaskan Native can report memories of ghosts, animals in human form, or little people living in remote places. Experiences such as hearing voices from ice or stones were discussed as readily as everyday hunting adventures. Neither were ecstatic experiences the monopoly of ''angakkuit'' (reverie,
daydreaming Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. This phenomenon is common in people's daily life shown by a large-scale study in which partici ...
, even trance were not unknown by non-''angakkuit'' Merkur 1985c), and laypeople (non-''angakkuit'') experiencing them were welcome to report their experiences and interpretations. The ability to have and command helping spirits was characteristic of ''angakkuit'', but laypeople could also profit from spirit powers through the use of
amulets An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
. In one extreme instance a Netsilingmiut child had 80 amulets for protection.Kleivan & Sonne:43 Rasmussen 1965:262 Some laypeople had a greater capacity than others for close relationships with special beings of the belief system; these people were often apprentice ''angakkuit'' who failed to complete their learning process. Kleivan & Sonne 1985:24


Role in community

In some of the cultures, ''angakkuit'' may fulfill multiple functions, including healing, curing
infertile Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species (mostly haplodiploid insects). It is the normal state ...
women, and securing the success of hunts. These seemingly unrelated functions can be understood through the soul concept which, with some variation, underlies them. ;Healing :It is held that the cause of sickness is ''soul theft'', in which someone (perhaps an enemy, whether human or a spirit) has stolen the soul of the sick person. It takes a spiritual healer to retrieve the stolen soul. The person remains alive because people have multiple souls, so stealing the appropriate soul causes illness or a moribund state rather than immediate death. According to another variant among
Ammassalik Ammassalik Island ( da, Ammassalik Ø) is an island in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland, with an area of .
in East Greenland, the joints of the body have their own small souls, the loss of which causes pain. Gabus 1970:274 ;Fertility :The ''angakkuq'' provides assistance to the soul of an unborn child to allow its future mother to become pregnant. ;Success of hunts :When game is scarce the ''angakkuq'' can visit (in a
soul travel Astral projection (also known as astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body called an " astral body" through which consciousness can functio ...
) a mythological being who protects all sea creatures (usually the Sea Woman), who keeps the souls of sea animals in her house or in a pot. If the ''angakkuq'' pleases her, she releases the animal souls thus ending the scarcity of game. Soul dualism is held in several cultures (including Eskimo, Uralic, Turkic peoples).Hoppál 1975: 225 There are traces of beliefs that humans have more than one soul. The details have variations according to the culture. In several cases, a "free" soul and a "body" soul are distinguished: the free soul may depart body (during life), the body soul manages body functions. In several Alaskan Native cultures, it is the "free soul" of the ''angakkuq'' that undertakes these spirit journeys (to places such as the land of dead, the home of the Sea Woman, or the moon) whilst his body remains alive.Oosten 1997: 92 According to an explanation, this temporal absence of the healer's free soul is tackled by a substitution: the healer's body is guarded by one of his/her helping spirits during the spirit journey. A tale contains this motif while describing a spirit journey undertaken by the free soul and his helping spirits. When a new ''angakkuq'' is first initiated, the initiator extracts the free soul of the new ''angakkuq'' and introduces it to the helping spirits so that they will listen when the new ''angakkuq'' invokes them; Merkur 1985:121 according to another explanation (that of the Iglulik ''angakkuq'', Aua) the souls of the vital organs of the apprentice must move into the helping spirits: the new ''angakkuq'' should not feel fear of the sight of his new helping spirits. Rasmussen 1965:170


Animals

Although humans and animals are not traditionally seen as interchangeable, there are diachronical notions of unity between human and animal: imaginations about an ancient time when the animal could take on human form at will — it simply raised its forearm or wing to its face and lifted it aside at the muzzle or beak, like a mask.Oosten 1997: 90–91 Ceremonies may help preserve this ancient unity: a masked person represents the animal and, as s/he lifts the mask, the human existence of that animal appears. Masks among Alaskan Natives could serve several functions. There are also ''transformation mask''s reflecting the mentioned unity between human and animal.Thomas 2008
: +4 (= third page after the opening page of the article)
In some Inuit groups, animals may be believed to have souls that are shared across their species.


Naming

In some groups, babies have been named after deceased relatives. This might be supported by the belief that the child's developing, weak soul must be "supported" by a ''name-soul'': invoking the departed name-soul which will then accompany and guide the child until adolescence. This concept of inheriting name-souls amounts to a sort of
reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...
among some groups, such as the Caribou Alaskan Natives. In a tale of the Ungazighmiit, an old woman expresses her desire to become ill, die and then "come" as a boy, a hunter. After specific preparations following her death, a newborn baby will be named after her. Рубцова 1954: 270–271 / 274–275 (= № 19 (132)–(162)) Similarly to several other Eskimo cultures, the name-giving of a newborn baby among Siberian Yupik meant that a deceased person was affected, a certain rebirth was believed. Even before the birth of the baby, careful investigations took place: dreams and events were analyzed. After the birth, the baby's physical traits were compared to those of the deceased person. The name was important: if the baby died, it was thought that he/she has not given the "right" name. In case of sickness, it was hoped that giving additional names could result in healing.


Secrecy (or novelty) and the neutralizing effect of publicity

It was believed in several contexts that
secrecy Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...
or
privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...
may be needed for an act or an object (either beneficial or harmful, intended or incidental) to be effective and that
publicity In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person or organization (company, charity, etc.). It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the general public, often (but not always) ...
may neutralize its effects. * Magic formulae usually required secrecy and could lose their power if they became known by other people than their owners. For example, a
Chugach Chugach , Chugach Sugpiaq or Chugachigmiut is the name of an Alaska Native people in the region of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound on the southern coast of Alaska. The Chugach people are an Alutiiq (Pacific Eskimo) people who speak ...
man experienced a
sea otter The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the small ...
swimming around, singing a song, a magic formula. He knew it is a help in hunting, whose efficiency will be lost for him if anybody else learns it. Merkur 1985: 65 Some of the functions of the ''angakkuit'' can be understood in the light of this notion of secrecy versus publicity. The cause of illness was usually believed to be soul theft or a breach of some taboo (such as miscarriage). Public confession (led by the shaman during a public seance) could bring relief to the patient. Similar public rituals were used in the cases of taboo breaches that endangered the whole community (bringing the wrath of mythical beings causing calamities). In some instances, the efficiency of magical formulae could depend on their novelty. A
creation myth A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop ...
attributes such power to newly created words, that they became instantly true by their mere utterance. Also in practice, too much use of the same formulae could result in losing their power. Freuchen 1961: 277 According to a record, a man was forced to use all his magic formulae in an extremely dangerous situation, and this resulted in losing all his conjurer capabilities. As reported from the
Little Diomede Island Little Diomede Island or “Yesterday Isle” ( ik, Iŋaliq, formerly known as Krusenstern Island,
, new songs were needed regularly for the ceremonial held to please the soul of the whale, because "the spirits were to be summoned with fresh words, worn-out songs could never be used...".


Cultural variations among Alaskan Natives


Inuit

Among Inuit, a spiritual healer is called an ' (plural: ''angakkuit'',
Inuktitut syllabics Inuktitut syllabics ( iu, ᖃᓂᐅᔮᖅᐸᐃᑦ, qaniujaaqpait, or , ) is an abugida-type writing system used in Canada by the Inuktitut-speaking Inuit of the territory of Nunavut and the Nunavik and Nunatsiavut regions of Quebec and Labra ...
''ᐊᖓᑦᑯᖅ'' or ''ᐊᖓᒃᑯᖅ'') or in


Yupik and Yup'ik

Like the Netsilik Inuit, the Yupik have traditionally practiced
tattooing A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of tatt ...
.Tattoos of the early hunter-gatherers of the Arctic
written b

/ref> They are also one of the cultures who have a special language for talking to spirits, called .


Ungazighmiit

The
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
s had shamans, and only in Siberia is the term, "shaman" traditionally found.Духовная культура (Spiritual culture)
, subsection o
Support for Siberian Indigenous Peoples Rights (Поддержка прав коренных народов Сибири)
Compared to the variants found among Eskimo groups of America, shamanism among Siberian Yupiks stressed more the importance of maintaining good relationship with sea animals. The Ungazighmiit (in
Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...
transliteration: , ), speaking the largest of the
Siberian Yupik language Central Siberian Yupik, (also known as Siberian Yupik, Bering Strait Yupik, Yuit, Yoit, "St. Lawrence Island Yupik", and in Russia "Chaplinski Yupik" or Yuk) is an endangered Yupik language spoken by the indigenous Siberian Yupik people along the ...
variants, called a shaman ''alignalghi'' (алигналӷи, ). The ''alignalghi'' received presents for the shamanizing. There were many words for "presents" in the language spoken by Ungazighmiit, depending on the nature and occasion (such as a marriage). Рубцова 1954:173 These included such fine distinctions as "thing, given to someone who has none", "thing, given, not begged for", "thing, given to someone as to anybody else" and "thing, given for exchange". Among these many kinds of presents, the one given to the shaman was called . The Ungazighmiit have also traditionally had a special
allegoric As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
usage of some expressions for working with the spirits.


Chugach

The
Chugach Chugach , Chugach Sugpiaq or Chugachigmiut is the name of an Alaska Native people in the region of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound on the southern coast of Alaska. The Chugach people are an Alutiiq (Pacific Eskimo) people who speak ...
people live on the southernmost coasts of Alaska. Birket-Smith conducted fieldwork among them in the 1950s, when traditionally ceremonial ways had already ceased practice. Chugach apprentice ''angakkuit'' were not forced to become spiritual healers by the spirits. They instead deliberately visited lonely places and walked for many days until they received a visitation of a spirit. The apprentice then passed out, and the spirit took him or her to another place (like the mountains or the depths of the sea). Whilst there, the spirit instructed the apprentice in their calling, such as teaching them their personal song. Merkur 1985:125


See also

*
Inuit religion Inuit religion is the shared spiritual beliefs and practices of the Inuit, an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous people from Alaska, northern Canada, parts of Siberia and Greenland. Their religion shares many similarities with some Al ...
*
Masks among Eskimo peoples Masks among Eskimo peoples served a variety of functions. Masks were made out of driftwood, animal skins, bones and feathers. They were often painted using bright colors. There are archeological miniature maskettes made of walrus ivory, dating from ...
*
Messenger Feast The Messenger Feast or Kivgiq, Kevgiq (''Kivgiġñiq'' in Iñupiaq dialect of North Slope Borough, ''Kivgiqsuat'' in King Island Iñupiaq, ''Kevgiq'' in Yup'ik), is a celebratory mid-winter festival in Alaska traditionally held by Iñupiaq ( Tiki ...
*
Bladder Festival The Bladder Festival or Bladder Feast (''Nakaciuq'' "something done with bladders" or ''Nakaciuryaraq'' "the process of doing something with bladders" in Yup'ik), is an important annual seal hunting harvest renewal ceremony and celebration held each ...
*
Native American religion Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the Native Americans in the United States. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual nations, tribes and bands. Early European ...
*
Noaidi A noaidi ( sme, noaidi, smj, noajdde, sma, nåejttie, sms, nōjjd, sjt, niojte, sjd, noojd/nuojd, italic=yes, sje, nåjjde) is a shaman of the Sami people in the Nordic countries, playing a role in Sámi religious practices. Most ''noaidi'' ...
* Shamanism among Alaska Natives *
Shamanism in Siberia A large minority of people in North Asia, particularly in Siberia, follow the religio-cultural practices of shamanism. Some researchers regard Siberia as the heartland of shamanism.Hoppál 2005:13 The people of Siberia comprise a variety of et ...
* Traditional Alaska Native medicine


Notes


References


Latin

* The tale title means: "The soul who wandered through all animals"; the book title means: "Eskimo tales"; the series means: "The tales of world literature". * The tale title means: "The land of the dead in the sky"; the book title means: "Eskimo tales"; the series means: "The tales of world literature". * The tale title means: "
Asiaq In Inuit mythology, Asiaq is a weather goddess (or, more rarely a god) and was quite frequently invoked by the angakoq for good weather, for instance if spring was late it was important to content her and make sure she would send rain and melt th ...
, the mistress over wind and weather"; the book title means: "Eskimo tales"; the series means: "The tales of world literature". * * * * * * The title means "Shamanism". * * * * Translation of Gabus 1944. * The title means: "Uralic peoples. Culture and traditions of our linguistic relatives"; the chapter means "The belief system of Uralic peoples and the shamanism". * (The title means "Shamans in Eurasia." The book is written in Hungarian, and it is also published in German, Estonian and Finnish)
Site of publisher with short description on the book (in Hungarian)
* * * * * * * * * * * * Hungarian translation of Rasmussen 1926. * * * * Translation of Vitebsky 1995 * * In it, on pp 41–45: ''Sámán — a szó és értelme'' (The etymology and meaning of word shaman). * Note that term "Inuit" is used here in an extended sense.


Cyrillic

* The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English: * Rendering in English:


Further reading

* Unabridged original. Tales rendered in English; the song texts both in English and in original. Large PDF file requiring considerable computation resources. * HTML format, the original language versions of the song texts are omitted. * * * * Reduced to HTML by Christopher M. Weimer, April 2003. * Collection of 27 texts collected by Rubtsova in 1940–1941. Translated into English and edited by Vakhtin. (The English version is the last file at the bottom of the page.) Downloadable from UAF's site licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. *


Old photos

* Rendering in English: ''Ungaziq settlement'',
Kunstkamera The Kunstkamera (russian: Кунсткамера) or Kunstkammer (German for "Culture Room" (literally) or "Art Chamber", typically used for a " cabinet of curiosities") is a public museum located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Pete ...
,
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
. Old photos about former life of a
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
settlement, including those of a shaman, performing his séance. Larger images about it: ** ** ** ** ** **


Interviews

* * A radio interview with Russian scientists about man and animal, examples taken especially from Asian Eskimos. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shamanism Among Eskimo Peoples Alaska Native culture Eskimos Inuit shamanism Shamanism of the Americas aka