Introduction: Origins, Groups in Canada, Beliefs, Creation Stories

Unit 2: Aboriginal Spirituality

OriginsNo single founderAncient/beyond recordsTwo theories of Aboriginal origin/history in

the Americas:1. They “came out of this ground,” meaning

they were here before any record.2. They migrated from Asia to North and South

America by crossing a land bridge over the Bering Strait (between Alaska and Russia) 35,000 years ago.

Origins

OriginsArchaeologists have found Aboriginal artifacts dating

back beyond 10,000 yearsExamples: Wampum (beaded belts), animals

paintings on rocks, bones representing burial rites, and wooden carvings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULyRPpYHxdo

Aboriginal Spirituality Around the World Huge diversity of Aboriginal spirituality. Indigenous peoples live in every area of the globe. 80% of world’s 300 million Aboriginal peoples live in Asia. 13% in North and South America.

World Distribution of Indigenous People

Asia 80% S. America 7%

N. America 6% Africa 4%

Australia/Oceania 3% Europe 0.1%

Aboriginal Cultural Groups in Canada

Canada’s Aboriginal population just passed 1 million!! (2013 data)

Canada has 6 distinct cultural groups

Cultural Groups in CanadaArctic: Inuit

Snow, ice, seals, walrus, whales, caribou, harpoons, dog sleds, igloo, clothing from animal hides and fur, waterproof boots with seal skin, seal oil for heating and cooking, coats from polar bear fur, stone carvings

Subarctic: Cree, Ojibwa Thick forests, mountains, elders storytelling

Northwest Coast: HaidaTotem poles, yarn out of cedar bark,

harpooned whale, trapped salmon, dugout canoes, annual prayers for salmon swimming upriver

Plateau: Salish Foothills of Rocky mountains, log huts and pit

houses in the ground

Plains: Blackfoot, Plains Cree, SiouxBison used for everything - food, tipis,

clothing, containers, tools, etc.

Northeast Woodlands: Iroquois, Algonquin, Mi’kmaq, Mohawk, Cayuga, Senecarich soil for excellent farming - corn, tobacco,

squash, beans. Longhouses, dome-shaped homes, bear, deer, moose, deerskin for clothing, moccasins from buffalo

Beliefs - AnimismAboriginal spirituality and beliefs are a cultural extension of

survival interaction with their physical environment.

Everything in the world is alive.

All living things reside in close connection and harmony with one another and move in cycles.

Aboriginal peoples recognize the powers around them: in the heavens, in human ghosts and spirits, in animals and plants, and in the weather.

Animism: all things, human and non-human, have spirits or souls, and that person or animal lives on after death through the presence of that spirit.

Beliefs - AnimismMost Aboriginal peoples believe in a supreme

Creator.Other spirits have power to guide human activity.Inuit call the sea “Sea Woman.”Iroquois call the sky “Sky Woman.”Algonquin call the sky “Grandfather.”

Beliefs - AnimismAboriginal spirituality turns to many

spirits because Aboriginal people believe they have more than one specific need in nature/life.

Example:A fisher strives to be on good

terms with the spirit of the sea.A farmer strives to please the

spirit of the rain or sun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkV-of_eN2w

Beliefs - AnimismBlack Elk, Sioux holy man

from Great Plains said, “We know that we all are

related and are one with all things of the heavens and the earth…May we be continually aware of this relationship which exists between the four-leggeds, the two-leggeds, and the wingeds…”

Beliefs – Death/AfterlifeIn general, Aboriginal religions have no

precise belief about life after death.Some believe in reincarnation as a

human or animal after deathOthers believe humans return as ghosts,

or go to another worldOthers believe that nothing definite can

be known about one’s fast after lifeCombinations of beliefs are common

Beliefs – Death/AfterlifeExample:

Sioux of Great Plains believe that four souls depart from a person at death.

One of them journeys along the “spirit path,” and is judged by an old woman.

She determines whether the spirit should carry on to reconnect with ancestors or return to Earth as a ghost.

Other souls enter fetuses and are reborn into new bodies.

Beliefs – Death/AfterlifeExample:

Northeast Woodlands, Iroquois believe that souls/spirits can enter man-made objects like fishing nets or spears.

Inuit pay homage to the souls of killed animals by facing the animal in the direction from which it came so that its soul can return. Upon killing a seal they give it a drink of water so that the spirit can re-enter the sea. Every year, they collect all the seal bladders caught previous year and throw them back in the sea, so that the seals can reproduce.

Other groups believe the souls inhabit stars of the Milky Way.

Beliefs –Totem PolesLinks Aboriginal peoples to

their ancestors.Represent their

animal/spirit guideProtective entities – plant,

animal, or mythological being – of a clan or individual.

Totem poles can tell stories or represent a clan or tribe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHGNnBqDCZc

Beliefs – Creation StoriesBeliefs and creation stories passed

down through storytelling.Traditional Aboriginal storytellers earned

the right to be a storyteller. Usually Elders.They are important in teaching and in

preserving the history of the group.

Beliefs - Creation StoriesEach Native American group has its own

Creation story to explain that group’s origins, which grew out of their experiences.

Stories reflect their beliefs in the interrelationship of people, animals, and the natural environment.

Offers a response to questions of existence:Where do we come from? Why certain things in the environment are

the way they are?Where we go when we die?

Creation Story – Northeast WoodlandsThe creation story of the Northeast Woodlands is the “Turtle

Island” story. They believe that after a great flood, water covered the Earth. Several water animals and birds tried to bring some mud to the surface of the water. Eventually the muskrat succeeded. Sky Woman (the sky) then spread the mud on the back of a turtle and created North America, or Turtle Island.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX4GJTtSigY

Creation Story – Northwest CoastTheir creation story is the story of the Raven.

Where the Raven coaxes the original people out of a clamshell onto the land.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ1khnqqhVM

Creation StoriesGroup workAssignment

BUT FIRST, complete map!!!