Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
31 March 2011
Aboriginal Spirituality
WHEN
There is no recorded beginning to Aboriginal religions. They probably were brought to Canada by the Native people as they migrated here following the retreat of the last Ice Age between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago.
WHERE
All Aboriginal peoples in Canada have their own religious faiths. Some have fallen into disuse, but many more are undergoing a revival.
FOLLOWERS
All the Native peoples resident in Canada prior to contact with Europeans had their own religious belief systems.
Europeans felt compelled to convert Canada's Native people to Christianity; early missionaries believed that by doing so the Native people were being saved from spending eternity in Hell.
Library and Archives Canada
From the 1830s onwards, church-
During the last 20 years, Native people have been returning to their traditional belief systems in increasing numbers.
BELIEFS
In general, most Aboriginal religions share the belief that all natural things, all
forms of life, are inter-
Creation is explained in the Earth Diver story, in which either the Great Spirit or the Transformer dives or orders other animals to dive into the primeval water to bring up mud, out of which he fashions the Earth; this belief is held by Indians of the Eastern Woodlands and Northern Plains.
The Trickster creation story frequently but not always represents the Transformer as a comical character who steals light, fire, water, food, animals, or even mankind and loses them or sets them loose to create the world. This explanation is heard among West Coast and some Prairie tribes.
Among the Mi’kmaq and Abenaki of the East Coast, the Transformer appears as a human being with supernatural powers who brings the world into its present form by heroic feats. Across the Great Plains, there are said to be two Transformers. They compete with each other in feats of strength, ability, or cunning. The result of this contest is the formation of the world as it now exists.
All Aboriginal religions have elaborate ceremonies and rituals. These are performed to please the gods so rain will come for the crops, or hunters will be successful in finding game. Other rituals involve fertility, birth, and death.
As an example, let's look at the Shaking Tent Ritual (right). A client would pay
a shaman (a kind of priest or healer) to build a special cylindrical lodge or tent.
The shaman would enter the tent in darkness and singing and drumming would bring
his spirit helpers. The arrival of the spirits would be signaled by animal cries
and the shaking of the tent. The shaman would then use his spirit helpers to cure
the client of whatever ailed him or her or to ward off black magic or a curse.
Among First Nations there is usually a belief in an afterlife but the world of the dead is thought to lie at a great distance from the living. The dead usually have to make a difficult journey often beyond a great river, on islands far out at sea, in the remote mountains, or in the underworld to get to their place of rest. Occasionally, there is contact between humans and the world beyond.
Spiritual stories are needed to explain spectacular events such as a thunderstorm or an earthquake. A Native shaman
might explain the Northern Lights by saying that the dancing waves of colour are powerful guardian spirits; the spirits of ancestors dance across the northern sky, weaving their way through the black of night, moving in harmony with the eternal rhythms of Father Sky and Mother Earth.
A key concept among Indian and Inuit societies is the notion of the Guardian of the Game. This is a supernatural person who looks after one or all of the animal species, especially those hunted by man.
Typical examples are to be found in the Bear ceremonial of the Abenaki and Montagnais-
Inuit religious thought is grounded in the belief that anua (souls) exist in all people and animals. Individuals, families and the tribe must observe a complex system of taboos to ensure that animals continue to make themselves available to the hunters.
The underwater Goddess Sedna watches to see how closely the tribe obeys the taboos and releases her animals to the hunters accordingly. There are other deities who release land mammals. Many rituals and ceremonies are performed before and after hunting expeditions to ensure hunting success.
SACRED TEXTS
There are no written texts; Native spirituality is contained in stories told by the Elders. Most of these religious tales have a moral or ethical dimension in which behaviour patterns are ordered, banned, recommended, or condemned.
Religious Tolerance quotes an unknown Native woman as saying: "If you take [a copy of] the Christian Bible and put it out in the wind and the rain, soon the paper on which the words are printed will disintegrate and the words will be gone. Our bible IS the wind."
Sources used in this series
Religions in Canada, Directorate of Human Rights and Diversity, Government of Canada.
The Encyclopedia of World Religions, Robert S. Ellwood (ed.) Facts on File, 1998.
Religion for Dummies, Rabbi Marc Gellman and Monsignor Thomas Hartman, For Dummies Publishing, 2002.
Religious Tolerance, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Religion, CBC Montreal
© Canada and the World, March 2011
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“Rather than going to church, I attend a sweat lodge; rather than accepting bread and toast from the Holy Priest, I smoke a ceremonial pipe to come into Communion with the Great Spirit; and rather than kneeling with my hands placed together in prayer, I let sweet grass be feathered over my entire being for spiritual cleansing and allow the smoke to carry my prayers into the heavens. I am a Mi’kmaq, and this is how we pray.”
Noah Augustine, Toronto Star, August 2000
“In Canada today, there are at least 56 distinct Native traditions, including that of the Inuit of the North.”
National Defence Canada Backgrounder
A RITE OF PASSAGE
The Guardian Spirit Quest, or Vision Quest, used to be common among all of the tribal
groups of Canada. Males, especially at puberty but also at other times of life, made extended stays in remote areas
while fasting, praying, and purifying themselves by washing in streams and pools.
The goal is to seek a vision of, or an actual encounter with, a guardian spirit -
frequently an animal, but also a mythological figure. The idea being that contact would make the person healthy and a successful hunter.
The Guardian Spirit Quest has been undergoing a revival in Northwest Coast tribal religions, especially among the Coast Salish,
for several years.
SWEAT LODGE
Not unlike a sauna,
the sweat lodge is
used for rituals of
purification, spiritual renewal, healing, and the education of youth.
A sweat lodge may be a small structure made of a frame of saplings, covered with skins, canvas, or a blanket. A depression is dug in the centre into which hot rocks are placed. Water is thrown on the rocks to create steam. A small flap opening is used to regulate the temperature.
As many as a dozen people can be accommodated in some lodges.