Unit 2 Aboriginal Spirituality Origins No single founder Ancientbeyond records Two theories of Aboriginal originhistory in the Americas 1 They came out of this ground meaning they were here before any record ID: 572865
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Slide1
Introduction: Origins, Groups in Canada, Beliefs, Creation Stories
Unit 2: Aboriginal SpiritualitySlide2
Origins
No single founderAncient/beyond records
Two 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.Slide3
OriginsSlide4
Origins
Archaeologists have found Aboriginal artifacts dating back beyond 10,000 years
Examples:
Wampum
(beaded belts), animals paintings on rocks, bones representing burial rites, and wooden carvings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULyRPpYHxdoSlide5
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.Slide6
Aboriginal Cultural Groups in Canada
Canada’s Aboriginal population just passed
1 million
!!
(2013 data)
Canada has 6 distinct cultural groupsSlide7Slide8
Cultural Groups in Canada
Arctic
: 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 carvingsSlide9
Subarctic
: Cree, Ojibwa
Thick forests, mountains, elders storytellingSlide10
Northwest
Coast:
Haida
Totem poles, yarn out of cedar bark, harpooned whale, trapped salmon, dugout canoes, annual prayers for salmon swimming upriverSlide11
Plateau
: Salish Foothills of Rocky mountains, log huts and pit houses in the ground Slide12
Plains
: Blackfoot, Plains Cree, Sioux
Bison used for everything - food,
tipis
, clothing, containers, tools, etc. Slide13
Northeast
Woodlands: Iroquois, Algonquin,
Mi’kmaq
, Mohawk, Cayuga, Seneca
rich soil for excellent farming - corn, tobacco, squash, beans. Longhouses, dome-shaped homes, bear, deer, moose, deerskin for clothing, moccasins from buffaloSlide14
Beliefs - Animism
Aboriginal 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.Slide15
Beliefs - Animism
Most 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.”Slide16
Beliefs - Animism
Aboriginal 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
Slide17
Beliefs - Animism
Black 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…”Slide18
Beliefs – Death/Afterlife
In general, Aboriginal religions have no precise belief about life after death.
Some believe in reincarnation as a human or animal after death
Others believe humans return as ghosts, or go to another world
Others believe that nothing definite can be known about one’s fast after life
Combinations of beliefs are commonSlide19
Beliefs – Death/Afterlife
Example: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.Slide20
Beliefs – Death/Afterlife
Example:
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.Slide21
Beliefs –Totem Poles
Links Aboriginal peoples to their ancestors.
Represent their animal/spirit guide
Protective 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=JHGNnBqDCZcSlide22
Beliefs – Creation Stories
Beliefs 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.Slide23
Beliefs - Creation Stories
Each 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?Slide24
Creation Story – Northeast Woodlands
The 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=cX4GJTtSigYSlide25
Creation Story – Northwest Coast
Their 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
Slide26
Creation Stories
Group workAssignment
BUT FIRST, complete map!!!