Alaska Native Religion

Traditional Alaskan Native religion involves mediation between people and spirits, souls, and other immortal beings. Such beliefs and practices were once widespread among Inuit (including Iñupiat), Yupik, Aleut, 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 and sleight-of-hand. Merkur 1985:134

The term "Eskimo" has fallen out of favour in Canada and Greenland, where it is considered pejorative and "Inuit" is used instead. However, "Eskimo" is still considered acceptable among some Alaska Natives of Yupik and Inupiaq (Inuit) heritage and is at times preferred over "Inuit" as a collective reference.

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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 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 this person is known as an ''angakkuq''. The ''alignalghi'' () of the Siberian Yupiks is translated as "shaman" in Russian and English literature. Menovščikov 1968:442 While the word "shaman" comes from the Tungusic language, 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 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'', a restless ghost who scared game away. Animals were thought to flee hunters who violated taboos.
Chugach spiritual healers may begin their work after an out-of-body experience, such as seeing oneself as a skeleton, exemplified in Aua's ( Iglulik) 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 metaphors 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 peoples had a special language that used periphrastic 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").Bogoraz 1913
437, 442, 444, 446, 448–449 The Ungazighmiit (a Siberian Yupik people) had a special allegoric usage of some expressions.

Observing the ''angakkuq'' Sorqaq's seance in a community at Qaanaaq, 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, ventriloquism 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 mentioned Arnaqaoq, a young Netsilik Inuit living in King William Island. 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 hallucinations, 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, 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. 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 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 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) 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 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 or privacy may be needed for an act or an object (either beneficial or harmful, intended or incidental) to be effective and that publicity 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 man experienced a sea otter 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 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, 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 ''ᐊᖓᑦᑯᖅ'' or ''ᐊᖓᒃᑯᖅ'') or in

Yupik and Yup'ik

Like the Netsilik Inuit, the Yupik have traditionally practiced tattooing.Tattoos of the early hunter-gatherers of the Arctic
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/ref> They are also one of the cultures who have a special language for talking to spirits, called .

Ungazighmiit

The Siberian Yupiks 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 transliteration: , ), speaking the largest of the Siberian Yupik language 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 usage of some expressions for working with the spirits.

Chugach

The Chugach 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
* Masks among Eskimo peoples
* Messenger Feast
* Bladder Festival
* Native American religion
* Noaidi
* Shamanism among Alaska Natives
* Shamanism in Siberia
* 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, the mistress over wind and weather"; the book title means: "Eskimo tales"; the series means: "The tales of world literature".
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* The title means "Shamanism".
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* 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)
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* Hungarian translation of Rasmussen 1926.
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* Translation of Vitebsky 1995
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* 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.
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* 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.
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Old photos

* Rendering in English: ''Ungaziq settlement'', Kunstkamera, Russian Academy of Sciences. Old photos about former life of a Siberian Yupik settlement, including those of a shaman, performing his séance. Larger images about it:
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Interviews

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* 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
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