It
is sad that I have to make this page, instead of simply stating what my
beliefs are, until a scientist or anthropologist shows up no one
listens. Below are clips about our beliefs from several sites, which can
be confirmed on line. All I want is the opportunity to set my precious
George's soul free so he can move on, or come back to me. It must also
be understood that this death can not go without retribution, it is not
my way to let anyone murder my children & walk away, these days the
battles are fought in boardrooms, not on the battlefields, & I will
educate myself well to be able to seek recompense for his soul
Religious
beliefs were based on animism; all things—animate or otherwise—were
believed to have a living essence. Thus, all humans, animals, plants,
and objects had souls or spirits, which might be related to one another
in a hereafter, details of the location of which varied from group to
group. Courtesies given
to freshly killed animals promoted their reincarnation as new animals
of the same species. The souls of humans were subject to interference
from other spirits, and soul loss meant illness or even death. There
also were ideas of human reincarnation. The name of a deceased person
was given to a child who “became” that person by being addressed with
kinship terms appropriate to the deceased. [2]
Traditionally,
all people were in contact with the spirit world; they carried amulets
of traditional or individual potency, experienced dreams, devised songs
or other words of power, and achieved special relationships with
particular spirit-beings. Men and women who were especially adept at
such contact became shamans; they were called on to cure the sick by
recovering lost soul-stuff, to foretell the future, to determine the
location of game, and so forth—all with the help of powerful spirit
familiars. [2]
Shamans
were also expected to contact a few more strongly personified
spirit-beings, such as the female being (whose name and attributes
varied from group to group) who governed important land or sea mammals;
when game was scarce, the shaman might cajole her into providing more
bounty. In Greenland the shaman was also an entertainer whose
séances, escape tricks, and noisy spirit helpers could enliven a long
winter's night in the communal house (see shamanism). [2]
Eskimo-Aleut Religion
Doctrines
Eskimo-Aleut
beliefs reflect the hunting culture upon which Eskimo-Aleut survival
depends. All animals are believed to possess a soul, which meant that
the Eskimo-Aleut sought to treat all animals with respect. When an
animal had been hunted and killed a ritual would sometimes be performed
to enable the animal to return to the place from which it had come.
Certain taboos governed hunting practices. Land and sea animals were
kept separate from one another. Women, who were ritually impure through
birth or menstruation, were not allowed access to game.
The
life cycle was governed by a number of rites of passage. At birth a
child would often be given the name of a person who had recently died in
the belief that the deceased person would live on in the child. When a
boy killed his first seal would be celebrated by a ritual distribution
of the seal's meat. At death the soul would go to live in a land in the
sky or in the sea.
In some Eskimo-Aleut traditions the shaman
was of great importance. Shamans would go into a trance and receive
messages from spirits or deities or control them in order to ensure
successful hunting. Shamans were also healers and could identify
sorcerers who used their powers for evil ends.
Among the more
prominent deities were Sea Woman (also called Sedna), who controlled the
sea animals; Aningaaq, the sun; and Sila, the air. Sedna is the subject
of a number of origin myths. In one she is presented as a girl who was
thrown off a boat and, while trying to cling on, had her fingers cut
off. Her fingers became the sea animals and she became Sea Woman with
the power to withold sea animals if certain taboos were broken.
History
According
to archaeological studies the ancestors of the Eskimo-Aleut crossed the
Bering Straits between 8-10,000 years ago. As they spread across the
north as far east the Eskimo-Aleut evolved into distinct language
groups.
The life of the Eskimo-Aleut of Alaska was transformed in
1741 with the arrival of Russian explorers and the subsequent
establishment of trading stations. The Eskimo-Aleut were exploited by
the Russian traders for the otter-hunting skills. So badly were the
Eskimo-Aleut treated that they rebelled in the 1760s only to be crushed
by the fire power of the Russians. Oppression and the introduction of
new diseases depleted the Eskimo-Aleut population to the extent that by
1799 Eskimo-Aleut numbers were reduced to one eighth of their
pre-contact size. Those who survived effectively became vassals to the
russian American Company which had monopoly trading rights in the area.
A
further consequence of the presence of Europeans in the area was the
process of converting the indigenous peoples to Christianity. Over time
many Eskimo-Aleut abandoned their traditional beliefs as they came to
accept Russian Orthodox Christianity.
In 1867 Alaska was sold
to the United States for $7,200,000. With the Americans came renewed
impact of European culture on the native peoples of the region. The
opening of the first canning factory in 1883 provided seasonal work to
native Alaskans that removed the need for a traditional lifestyle. The
presence of Moravian Brethren missionaries brought more into the
Christian fold. In the 1930s the last masked dances were performed.
However, attempts are being made to revive traditional religion.
Symbols
Amulets
often made of bones would be used to enhance the possibility of a
successful hunt. Masks were often used in religious rituals,
particularly during the 19th century. These masks represent the spirits
of animals, deities or natural phenomena. The eskimos also had a
distinctive form of engraving style. A number of relics have been found
which contain circle and dot motifs. Later eskimo art is
representational consisting of drawings of beavers or bears.
Adherents
According to the federal government 1980 census on tribal population
there were 661 Aleut and Eskimo in the United States.
ALASKAN NATIVE CURSES PART 1
PREFACE
Alaska's
indigenous people are jointly called Alaskan Natives and could be
called Alaskan Indians or American Indians. There are similarities to
the Apache and Navajo Indians. Alaskan Indians are more closely related
genetically to other American Indians than they are to Alaskan Eskimos.
This land is the deeply-revered home for Native people.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Matrilineal
(traced through the female) descent and inheritance characterized Aleut
kinship patterns. A fundamental Athabaskan trait based kinship on
matrilineal descent; matrilineal halves were know as Raven and Seagull.
Patrilineal-related
crews conducted rituals prior to whaling and walrus hunting and called
on shamans for assistance. Gambling was a favorite pastime of many
Native men.
The captain was a substantial figure, responsible for
many activities including the whale hunt, the ceremonies, festivals,
religious rituals and trading expeditions. In Inupiat belief and
practice, husband and wife both must carry out their spiritual and
secular responsibilities so the captain was worthy to receive a whale.
Preferential
female infanticide was practiced, but due to the many accidental deaths
suffered by males, the number of adult men and women tended to be
fairly balanced.
Individuals were born into these totemic
corporate groups which traced their origins from mythical or legendary
incidents. The clans were typically named after an animal or mythical
being. For example, the Kiksadi, a important clan among the Sitka
people, claimed the frog as its major symbol or crest. Classes are
usually divided into the nobles or aristocracy, the commoners and the
slaves.
Gender Roles
Among
the Alutiiq, gender roles for men as women and women as men were both
recognized. Despite the cultural emphasis on male hardiness and
self-reliance, there was a recognized role in Unangan society for the
male transvestite who dressed and worked as a woman. They were often
considered experts in healing.
Marriage
Wealthier
males occasionally had several wives and, among the Gwich'in, might use
younger males to sire heirs by their younger wives. These long-standing
relationships could include short-term exchanges of spouses as part of
the generosity between the two families. Among the Gwich'in, high-status
women occasionally had unions to brothers (woman married to several
men).
An individual was a member of one side, Raven and Eagle or
Wolf, and had to obtain a marriage partner from the opposite side; to
marry or have sexual relations with a member of one's own side was
considered incestuous. Marriages, particularly among the nobles, were
arranged by the mother and her brother for the woman's children.
RELIGIONS
The
first foreign religion introduced into Alaska was Russian Orthodox.
Alaska has been subjected to catholic religious influence. In 1882,
Jackson convened a meeting of Christian missionaries from various sects
interested in proselytizing in Alaska and through mutual agreement,
different sects were assigned to different areas of Alaska.
BELIEFS
Unangan
Although
little is known of the Unangan belief system, they appear to have
conceived of a creator deity related to the sun who was instrumental in
hunting success and the reincarnation of souls. Small images of the
creator, were carved from ivory and hung from the ceiling beams. The
creator, however, had little impact on everyday life which was instead
influenced by two classes of spirits, good and evil. Animals also had
spirits. The most important
ones were those of the whale and sea otter. The Unangan believed in the
reincarnation of souls which migrated between the earth, a world below
and a world above.
The
Inupiat belief system appears to have been based on the principle of
reincarnation and the recycling of spirit forms from one life to the
next. This was true of both the human and animal worlds. Names of those
who had recently died would be given to newborn infants. Animal spirits
were seen as critical for only if they were released could the animal be
regenerated and return for future human harvest. Consequently a great
number of special behaviors were accorded various animals including
offering marine mammals a drink of freshwater, cutting the throats or
skull to release the spirit, and taking care to make maximum use of the
products. Shamans had a special place in Inupiat society as curers, and
forecasters of weather and future events. Healers (usually women) expert
in the medicinal uses of plants also helped maintain Inupiat health.
A
critical set of beliefs revolved around the similarities between men
and animals in the distant past. Both have spirits and in the past they
communicated directly with each other. These ancient relationships had
been transformed by the acts and antics of Raven, a culture hero and
trickster who constantly disrupted the moral order by deception. The
legend cycle, told in stories to Athabaskan children, is composed of
tales concerning the activities of Raven, along with other mythical
beings which exemplify concepts of right and wrong in Athabaskan
culture.
KNOWLEDGE SPECIALISTS
Among
the Alutiiq, knowledge specialists were present whose expertise covered
different domains such as medicinal healing, divination, marshaling
spiritual forces, and maintaining social order. Apparently unique among
Alaska Natives, Koniag Alutiiq communities had persons known as wise men
(revered elders who were the ritual leaders of the winter masked
ceremonials. As bearers of the cosmological truths, they were capable of
communicating with the most powerful spirits as well as with the
spirits of the animals. For Koniag Alutiiq, the influence and
capabilities were viewed as separate from, superior to and more
important than the shamans.
Kalaik,
both men and women, had spiritual assistants whose powers they called
upon to predict the outcome of hunts, battles and travels, and to
discern, and endeavor to alter weather, prevent calamities, and heal
certain kinds of sickness. Some sources suggest that certain shamans
obtained powers form evil spirits and that bad shamans used their powers
to bring harm to humans. Shamanic powers were activated spiritually
through unusual clothing, facial painting, special objects, rattles,
whistles, song, dance, gestures, and formulaic verbalizations. Another
category of knowledge specialist was the medicinal curer who utilized a
diverse array of more physically-based techniques in their healing
practices and passed their knowledge on to descendants. Included in the
repertoires of these healers were herbs for beverages, foods and
poultices, acupuncture, blood letting, surgical procedures and bone
setting.
SPIRITUAL CEREMONIES AND RITUALS
Fathers,
supported by their kinsmen, were responsible for hosting the feast and
distributing food and gifts to guests who were invited to witness the
ceremonial transformation of a young man after a successful sea lion or
bear hunt. Central to the religious practices of the Alutiiq were the
masked winter dances and ritual performances conducted. A primary focus
of these activities was to thank and show respect to spirits controlling
the availability and abundance of game. Presentations included dramatic
appearances and disappearances from the smoke hole in the ceiling.
Through the drum, the heartbeat of the spirit was felt and it joined the
heartbeats of all participants in the ceremonies through song and
dance. New clothes and equipment were brought out because this was a
festival of renewal, or insuring the continuation of life. Due to a
combination of grieving and fear of the corpse, most were cremated but
shamans would be interred in coffins away from the community.
Menstrual Period
A
number of taboos were imposed and she was expected to stay away from
contact with men and their hunting gear for fear of polluting it from
the ritual associated with a young woman's first menstruation. During
the seclusion, she received focused training on her physical
transformation, on the behavioral taboos and requirements during her
menstrual period.
CEREMONIAL PARAPHERNALIA
Wooden
masks were used in some dances to invoke the presence of powerful
spirits. The exquisite quality and rarity of such lamps suggest they may
have been used only in rituals. The Koniag used small carved wooden
dolls for several purposes. These may have been used in ceremonial
performances or attached to dance masks. Among the Koniag and lower
Kenai Peninsula Alutiiq, dances to mollify evil spirits were a part of
the ceremonies. Alutiq masks were the presence and embodiment of
spiritual forces. One of the most important practices was the bringing
out of elaborate masks that embodied the spirit who was honored by such
representation. The Yupiit cosmos was inhabited by many spirits
including those of the deceased. Spirit poles were erected by graves to
keep the spirits of the dead who wished to be reborn from disrupting the
world of the living.
Masks
representing animal and other spirits were an important part of
religious ceremonies and dances among the Central Yupiit. Since it was
believed that the seal spirits would return at that time to the vicinity
to witness the ceremony, noise was kept at a minimum in order not to
disturb the seal spirits. The shaman had a special role for he was to
leave the festival and travel to the home of the seals to see if they
had been satisfied with the human efforts.
WHALING
A
very elaborate type of visored headgear was worn by the Koniag whalers
that was a symbolic component of their ritualized hunting transformation
into a type of killer whale. Whalers were ritual and knowledge
specialists who were viewed with both awe and horror by their fellow
Alutiiq. Koniag whalers left their villages and went to solitary
retreats in caves or secluded coves in April, perhaps a month prior to
the arrival of whales, to ritually transform themselves. They had to
activate their amulets or talismans through ritual procedures to access
their power.
Perhaps
the most unique practice of the Koniag whaler was the use of rendered
human fat in their hunting. Then he would proceed into the bay and after
vocally calling on his spiritual supporters and the sun for assistance,
would go and harpoon the whale. Once the whale was struck, the whaler
would use song and motion to tow the whale ashore. At the conclusion of
the whaling season, the whaler had to ritually cleanse and decommission
himself. Only by transforming himself back to his other human form would
he be able to return to the village and live. Whalers had to go through
a similar set of ritual preparations and also were said to use human
fat to keep struck whales in the bays.
Unangan
whaling was a highly ritualized activity for which men and their wives
prepared themselves by abstinence and other behaviors to make themselves
worthy. The stone harpoon heads were coated with a magical poison
concocted from the aconite plant. During this time, the hunter who
struck the whale secluded himself in his house and pretended to be ill
hoping that the whale likewise would become sick and die.
Hunter's Wife
Throughout
these preparations and practices, the whaler's wife, who had remained
behind in the village, had a strict set of behaviors she was to follow
including not leaving the house, limiting her movements and keeping her
voice down. Wives observed many taboos and rituals to assist their
husbands' hunting. These included a broad range of activities such as
cutting skins at certain times, eating certain foods or looking in
certain directions. It was thought that if those taboos were broken,
then bad luck would befall the husband's hunting efforts.
HUNTING AND FISHING
Halibut
hooks were carved with representations of powerful spirits called upon
by the fishermen to assist their efforts. A strong spirit was needed to
overcome the strength of the halibut. Special clubs were made for
dispatching the powerful halibut when brought to the surface where they
were ceremoniously greeted and thanked. ANCSA also explicitly
extinguished all aboriginal hunting and fishing rights.
TOTEM POLES
Mortuary
posts were erected in memory of a deceased clan head often having a
niche carved in the back for placement of ashes of the deceased. Chief
Skowl, a Kaigani Haida, erected a pole with carved images of Russian
Orthodox priests to memorialize his opposition to Christian beliefs.
Anirniit
The
Inuit believed that all things had a form of spirit or soul (in
Inuktitut: anirniq - "breath"; plural anirniit), just like humans. These
spirits were held to persist after death. The belief in the
pervasiveness of spirits has consequences. According to a customary
Inuit saying The great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls. By believing that all things, including animals, have souls like those of humans, killing an animal is little different from killing a person.
Once
the anirniq of the dead, animal or human, is liberated, it is free to
take revenge. The spirit of the dead can only be placated by obedience
to custom, avoiding taboos, and performing the right rituals.
For
the Inuit, to offend an anirniq was to risk extinction. The principal
role of the angakkuq in Inuit society was to advise and remind people of
the rituals and taboos they needed to obey to placate the spirits,
since he was held to be able to see and contact them.
The
anirniit were seen to be a part of the sila - the sky or air around them
- and were merely borrowed from it. Although each person's anirniq was
individual, shaped by the life and body it inhabited, at the same time
it was part of a larger whole. This enabled Inuit to borrow the powers
or characteristics of an anirniq by taking its name. Furthermore, the
spirits of a single class of thing - be it sea mammals, polar bears, or
plants - were in some sense held to be the same, and could be invoked
through a sort of keeper or master who was connected in some fashion
with that class of thing. In some cases, it is the anirniq of a human or
animal who became a figure of respect or influence over animals or
things through some action, recounted in a traditional tale. In other
cases, it is a tuurngaq, as described below.
Since
the arrival of Christianity among the Inuit, anirniq has become the
accepted word for a soul in the Christian sense. This is the root word
for a number of other Christian terms: anirnisiaq means angel and God is
rendered as anirnialuk - the great spirit.
Athabascan beliefs and customs
The
animistic belief system was common to all Alaskan Athabascan groups.
All creatures, and some inanimate objects, had spirits which were active
and powerful components of those creatures. The spirits enabled an
animal to know more than was immediately apparent to him. Thus, if human
beings did something which displeased the animal's spirit, the animal
itself would remain aloof from the people, and the people might starve.
There were very definite rules which people had to follow in dealing
with animals based on this belief in animal spirits. The specific rules
differed from area to area, but the general concept was the same.
Religion - - -
The Aleut believed in spirits and supernatural beings whose power was ever present in all things, from rocks to animals. One class of deities ruled over the sea, another the earth, and still another the sky. These deities were very important to the Aleut because they could provide good hunting, protection from enemies, and the like. In short, these supernatural beings could fill all of the needs of Aleut society. However, they helped only those Aleut who helped themselves.
Like
the northern Eskimo, the Aleut were careful to keep separate those
things which belonged to the land gods and those things which belonged
to the sea gods. For example, if it became necessary for a hunter to
lighten the rock-ballast in his kayak, he could not throw the rocks into
the sea, because such an act would make the sea gods angry; he had to
return them to the land. Likewise, the bones of the first sea-mammal
killed by a hunting party had to be thrown back into the sea, although
the flensing of the animal and the removal of the bones could take place
on shore.
The ocean gods and other spirits assisted the Aleut
sea-faring hunter, but the hunter and Aleut society as a whole had to
undertake certain ceremonies and rituals in order to please them and
insure their continued support.
The winter festival, for
instance — a ceremony in which the whole village participated — was
performed, at least in part, for the purpose of obtaining a plentiful
food supply from the gods. Doubtless other rites were performed by
individual hunters. Additional help in hunting could be obtained from
the spirits of dead relatives, from one's animal protector, or from the
supernatural power lodged in the carvings and painted designs on the
wooden headgear or in amulets. Some hunting amulets listed by Jochelson
were as follows: The feathers of the rosy finch were an amulet used in
whale hunting, and pieces of hematite were amulets for hunting sea
otters and whales. Other amulets were ravens' beaks and carved bone
figures of different animals. A rather complicated amulet used by
eastern Aleut fox hunters consisted of a small rope made from the long
neck hair of a male reindeer, the sinew of a fox tail, and stems of a
strawberry plant soaked in urine. This was wrapped in a piece of skin or
gut.
There were a number of things a hunter could not do
without inviting disaster. He must not allow anyone to see his amulets,
and before a hunting trip he had to avoid contact with women, especially
widows and menstruating women.
Sickness and death were caused
by evil spirits. Sometimes death could be prevented or sickness could be
cured by shamans, specialists who could use their supernatural power
against the evil spirits of sickness and death. Only shamans could make
the sacred masks used in Aleut rituals.
In contrast to the northern Eskimo,
Aleut did not fear the dead. Spirits of dead relatives were helpful in
many ways. Also, spirits of dead Aleut could reside in animals; for
instance, sea otters could have human souls. The Aleut religion took care of the needs of the people it served and was well integrated with the other aspects of Aleut society.
Mythology - - '
The
myths and stories of the Aleut were of three kinds. The first class
dealt with animal protectors, guardians, and other supernatural beings.
The second kind of myth told of the deeds of culture-heroes, warriors,
strong men, and chiefs. The third style of story was historical, telling
of the present or past life of the Aleut.
The narration
of myths was an art, and a narrator was proud of his skill. His fellow
villagers also took pride in his skill and expected him to maintain a
high standard of excellence. As Jochelson stated, the narration of a
myth was regarded as the "common work of the tribe expressed by
individuals." Stories were prefaced with the statement that this is "the
work or creation of my country."
Disposal of the Dead - - -
The
northern Eskimo feared the dead and disposed of bodies as quickly as
possible. The Aleut, on the other hand, had no such fear. In fact,
family attachments were so great that parting with the dead was delayed
as long as possible. Undoubtedly there were various ritualistic
observances in the period between death and disposal of the body. We
know, for instance, that there were processions marked by the beating of
drums and the wailing of the bereaved and that labrets were removed as a
sign of mourning. When at length the time arrived for the removal of
the body, it was disposed of in one of three ways: cremation, burial in
the ground, or burial in caves.
Cremation seems to have
been the mark of a low status in society, for cremated cave burials were
mostly of women, children, and slaves, probably associates of some
great personage or chief who was the central theme of the particular
burial. Interments were made in circular pits which were regarded by the
living as houses for the dead. A number of individuals could be buried
in the same pit along with grave offerings. Preparation for such burials
is said to have been the same as for cave burials.
Still
another funeral custom of the Aleut was burial in a tomb or sarcophagus
made of logs and planks. These underground tombs were rectangular, about
eight feet wide, ten feet long, and three feet high. The sides and ends
were made of logs, but the top of the crypt was covered by planks
caulked with pieces of fur and neatly tied bundles, also of fur. The
bodies inside the crypt were in flexed positions and accompanied by
their clothing, tools, ornaments, and other belongings.
The most
interesting and spectacular burials were the mummy packs, deposited in
caves. For this interment, the viscera sometimes were removed and the
space left by such removal was filled with grass; in other cases there
was no such evisceration. The
body, dressed in a parka of bird skins or sea-otter fur, over which (in
the case of men) there might be a waterproof parka, was placed in a
sitting position with arms and legs drawn tightly against the torso, and
was wrapped in woven mats. Then the mummy pack was tied with cords or
nets and perhaps more matting. Finally it was removed to a dry
cave where it was placed amid a lavish display of burial furniture.
Women, for instance, were surrounded by their
sewing equipment and
cooking utensils. Babies were in their cradles. Hunters had all their
weapons and kayaks with them. Warriors were dressed in armor, with their
weapons at hand. Thus it can be seen that cave burials were communities
of the dead completely equipped to live in a spirit world in much the
same way as they had lived before death. Some Aleut believed that at
night the dead went about their tasks of hunting and housekeeping, that
they held their festivals and ceremonies, but that with the arrival of
daylight they returned to their cave resting-places and assumed their
burial positions.
There were two types of cave burial. Chiefs
with their retinue and honored persons such as some warriors and whale
hunters, were placed in large grotto-like caves, where the mummies were
suspended from wooden frames or laid upon a wooden platform. Smaller
caves served as village cemeteries where the dead were placed upon the
bare floor of the cave or upon mats. All of the caves were dry and
relatively warm, an important factor in accounting for the excellent
preservation of mummies.
These
are the pictures of George's desecrated body, they took him apart &
paraded his body parts around like he had no value, no meaning, no
feelngs, no worth, or no SOUL that is the heart that used to beat, the
feet that used to carry him to me, the tail that had finally learned how
to wag, the precious being that had been held prisoner for 12 years
with no lov or care of concern. Did they hold him when they killed him?
Did they tell him how much they loved him? Did they care if he was
scared? WHERE IN THE HELL ARE ALL OF HIS BODY PARTS, & HIS BODY, WAS
HE WASHED OR WRAPPED, DID ANYONE EVEN SAY A BLESSING OVER HIS BODY?
What kind of human being does this to another soul? He was someone's
love, he had meaning, he had value, & even if you don't believe he
did have a soul that you have trapped to roam here on the earth forever
until he can be set free.
