Shamanism among Alaska Natives
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
They cured the sick, foretold the future, brought success in hunting and warfare, and performed other similar tasks.
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.
A popular after-death ceremony being a potlatch, allowed for the shaman to offer a smooth transition to the yega of the deceased.
[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.
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.
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.
[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.
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.
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.
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.
To conjure a spirit, a wild dance may be performed around the fire during which violent contortions of the body take place.
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.
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.
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.
