Unit 2: Aboriginal Spirituality
Practices, Rituals, Festivals, Symbols, Sacred
Writings
Practices, Rituals, Festivals
 Today, Aboriginal peoples keep their spiritualism alive by
participating in traditional festivals and by depicting their belief
through their art and symbols.
 Some of their religious practices have become common to all
Aboriginal peoples.
The Morning Dance
 Every spring, Ojibwa of southern Ontario
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perform the Morning Dance (Wabeno).
Pays homage to the “tree of the universe.”
Participants fast and cleanse themselves
beforehand.
Elder plays a drum and leads the dance in a
clearing around a tree.
Children, adults, and elderly dance from dawn to
noon.
Each dancer touches the tree as they pass by to
give thanks.
At midday, everyone eats a feast of meat and fish.
The Sun Dance
 Great Plains nations hold summer festival over 8 – 16 day period.
 Banned by Canadian government in 1880s.
 Ceremony identified the circle as important symbol and acknowledges
the sun as the giver of life.
 Participants dance for long periods around central wooden pole or “tree
of the universe.”
 Face sun and pay homage to the sun’s life-giving powers.
 Some dancers embed sharp wooden hooks deep into
their chest and connect skewers to leather thongs that
trail from the top of the wooden pole.
 As they dance, they pull back on the thongs and tear
their flesh.
 Resulting scars bear witness to their faith.
 Dancers perform this ritual because they believe that the body is
the only thing they control and can offer as a sacrifice to the
Creator.
 By enduring pain, others will not have to suffer famine, war, or
disease.
 Prayers are said for all people and vows are made to the Great
Spirit during Sun Dance.
 Today, it is still practiced in Canada.
The Potlatch Ceremony
 Northwest Pacific Coast nations practice this ceremony.
 Feasting, distributing wealth, sharing songs and dances = Potlatch
festival.
 Host gives a feast to celebrate important events: marriage, naming an
heir, etc.
 The more wealth the host gives away, the more that person gains in
status and greatness.
 Hosting clan grows in prestige.
The Sweat Lodge
 Common among Great Plains nations.
 Renews the soul and helps regain focus.
 Sweat lodge cleanses physical and spiritual body.
 Under direction of shaman, medicine man and spiritual
leader, participants make a sauna-like construction.
 Dome made of saplings.
 Covered in animal skins, cedar which make it dark and
airtight.
 Heated stones are placed in centre and water is sprinkled
on stones.
 Participants crowd around stones in confined space.
 Intense heat and steam cause them to sweat profusely,
cleanses the body physically and spiritually.
 Prayers and a sacred pipe are shared.
 Elder or shaman assists by coordinating the ceremony.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFYI8LpvFh8
The Shaking Tent
 Ritual used by Aboriginal
groups all over Canada.
 Represents beliefs and
values of some about the
supernatural world and its
relationship with the living.
 Through the shaking tent,
one can communicate with
the spirits.
 Constructed using 4 – 8 poles, placed deep in the
ground to form a circle about a meter in diameter.
 Wooden hoop encircles the poles at top and bottom.
 Cylindrical shape is wrapped in birch bark or hide.
 Individuals who have requested the ceremony make a
trade with shaman.
 He enters the tent and intercedes with spirits.
 Asks spirits to solve problems such as finding lost object,
communicating with ancestor, locating missing person,
predicting outcome of an event.
 Always performed at night.
The Vision Quest
 Rite of passage to adulthood.
 Coming-of-age ceremony common
to most Aboriginal nations.
 Seeker of vision quest is purified involves confession.
 Occurs at sweat lodge.
 Medicine man instructs youth to go
to a place far from camp.
 Youth prays, fasts from food and water, and endures elements
for several days, awaiting a “vision.”
 Seeker hopes to receive a message from a guardian spirit,
who may appear in an animal, object, or other natural form.
 If no vision is seen, person must try again.
 Shaman will help interpret messages.
Smudging Ceremony
 One of the most popular Aboriginal rituals that includes the
burning of sweet grass and drawing smoke ritually over the body.
 This helps to clear one’s thoughts, wash away impurities, and
focus on a positive future.
Symbols
Native American use of symbols vary according to
different nations and regions, here are a few uses:
 As assurance that guardian spirits are present. Whether a warrior
needs more courage, or a new home needs a blessing - symbols
always mark the occasion.
 Seeking assistance from a spirit. These symbols are the image of
the spirit, and thus the object on which the symbol is depicted
(tools, blankets, etc) is spiritually charged. This means that where
a symbol is so too is the original power.
Symbols: Turtle Island
 The symbol for North America,
also referred to as Mother Earth, is
a turtle.
 The Turtle is considered to be one
of the oldest most sacred symbols
for many Aboriginal peoples. They
believe that North America was
created on the back of a turtle.
Symbols: Dream Catcher
 Wooden hoops of bent willow
 Woven with web made of nettle
stalk cord dyed red with
bloodroot
 If hung over your bed your bad
dreams are filtered through the
web and dissipate into the
Universe; your good dreams
remain caught in the web.
Symbols: Eagle Feather
 A symbol of strength, it gives the
holder the power to represent others.
It is often presented as recognition to
someone who defends, fights for, or
negotiates on behalf of Aboriginal
peoples or people of native ancestry.
 Some elders describe the eagle
feather as a symbol of healthy
relationships.
 Aboriginals believe the Creator loves the Eagle most because
it flies closest to her, and because it symbolizes the duality, or
contradictions of life – man and woman, light and darkness,
summer and winter (this is seen in the light and darks colours
of the feathers).
Symbols: Eagle
 The protector of Peace that sits atop the Tree of Peace
 Universally accepted as the principle messenger of the Creator.
 The Eagle is a powerful symbol of courage; that is why its feathers are
such powerful tools for healing, and why there are special ceremonies
for Eagle feathers.
 Gives holder power to represent others.
Dropped Eagle Feather Dance
 To most Native Americans the eagle feather is sacred. So, when a feather falls from a
dancer’s outfit, the powwow must stop and a special ceremony must be performed.
 In some traditions, a fallen eagle feather is treated like an enemy because it is believed
the sacredness of the feather can turn against the person who dropped it. The ceremony
is necessary to capture the feather, ask its forgiveness and say a prayer over it to make the
feather’s medicine good again.
 The ceremony is performed by four male traditional dancers, generally veterans (i.e.,
warriors who have earned the privilege) who dance around the feather. At a certain
point in the song, they approach the dropped feather from four directions and attack the
feather, usually four times. In some instances, the warrior who actually picks up the
feather relates a battle or war story. For most tribes, four is a sacred number,
symbolizing, among other things, the four directions. When the feather is retrieved, a
prayer is said.
Symbols: Fire
 For most Tribes, fire symbolizes the heart of The
People.
 Present at all ceremonies in one form or another, from
smoke in a smudge bowl or pipe, to the blazing fire at a
Sun Dance or Potlatch.
 Fire cleanses the spirit, it is used to heat the
Grandfathers (rocks) before placing them in the pit of a
sweatlodge; the smoke from the fire is used to send
prayers to the Great Mystery.
 Fire represents cleansing and renewal, for out of the
ashes comes new growth, new thoughts, rebirth of
ideas and new ways of being.
Symbols: Tree of Peace
 Connects Earth to Heaven
 Used in the creation of totem poles
 Tall white pine planted to represent
the Great Law of Peace, unified the
Five Nations under one law.
 The Peacemaker proclaimed, "If any
man or nation shows a desire to
obey the Law of the Great Peace,
they may trace the roots to their
source, and be welcomed to take
shelter beneath the Tree."
Symbols: Circle
 Circle = Symbol of unity,
strength and cycles of life
Sacred Writings
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Stories and prayers are passed on through generations by shamans or
elders – oracy
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Speaker will often use an aid, like a necklace of beads, wampum, totem
pole or feather
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Handsome Lake
 Iroquois man who lost his homeland in New York during American
Revolution in 1783
 Suffered debilitating illness and became alcoholic
 Eventually swore off alcohol, died and was revived
 Upon recovery, he had visions and received messages from the Creator
 This resulted in a reforming movement, with a renewed moral code
designed to reverse the social decline of the remaining Iroquois
 He reported seeing 4 heavenly messengers who told him the 4 words
of the 4 wrongs in the world: alcohol, witchcraft, black magic,
abortion
 These were recorded in The Code of Handsome Lake