Language and Religion

Before the mid-nineteenth century, speakers of Blackfoot, Cree, and Ojibwa practised an oral tradition and had no formal writing system to record their words. This fact did not present an obstacle to non-verbal communication since graphic symbols were used to augment spoken language. Various methods were available, including the petroglyphs and pictographs that are described as “rock art” and the application (by the Blackfoot and Cree) of mineral and vegetal paints on animal hides. Visions and narratives were etched on birch-bark scrolls.

The diversity of languages on the plains required the use of interpreters, who often would live among the people whose language they wished to learn. Another method of communication was sign language, which was so standardized across the plains that two groups speaking different languages could communicate with each other. At times, when distance made speech impractical, signs were a logical alternative, especially if stealth was required.

In the nineteenth century, missionaries working with Cree and Ojibwa speakers, such as the Methodist James Evans, developed a syllabic orthography based on a phonetic construct of vowel/consonant pairs. Their initial motivation was to translate religious texts into the native languages. Later, this goal expanded to the more general objective of literacy. Blackfoot, Cree, and Ojibwa can be, and have been, written using standard Roman orthography.

As the number of native speakers declines with each new generation, owing to assimilationist pressures and to external influences like mass communications and media, aboriginal peoples are faced with the real prospect that their languages – including Plains Algonquian languages – may become extinct. In response to this threat, schools, which once had actively suppressed native languages, offer native-language courses as part of the regular curriculum, with Indian linguists bringing their expertise to the classroom. It is common to see instruction in Ojibwa, and post-secondary institutions, like the University of Calgary, offer courses in Cree and Blackfoot.

Native people have adopted other methods in the cause of preserving their culture. Even such media as television and radio, which have been the cause of so much cultural erosion, have surfaced as instruments for language retention; for example, Bullhorn Productions, on the Blood reserve in Alberta, produces videos in Blackfoot. Along the same line, community newspapers have been launched that disseminate information and provide a forum for local concerns. Journals like Kainai News on the Blood reserve or the magazine Tawow (1970– ), published in Saskatchewan, appeal directly to an Indian constituency. They also employ English as the lingua franca so that their audience is not limited to natives. Attempts have been made to include syllabics in print form; however, they have not been able to rival the popularity of roman orthography.

In terms of religious beliefs, narratives describing the origin of the world and its people are contained in the oral traditions of the Plains Ojibwa, Blackfoot, and Plains Cree. These stories were committed to the memories of individuals and recited only during the winter when long periods of inactivity were common. As entertainment they provided distraction, but as history they answered the more compelling desire to understand the mystery and reason of existence. Although the origin myths vary among the cultures, their remarkable similarity carries another echo of relatedness.

The primordial world of legend was inhabited by fantastic creatures that had miraculous powers. Humans were not yet a part of creation, although the cultural heroes of each of the three Plains Algonquian peoples, Naapii, Nanabush, and Wisahkecahk, certainly were active. For a variety of reasons, the original world was flooded with water. The only creatures capable of surviving were those whose natural habitat was aquatic. Thus, along with the cultural heroes mentioned, the beaver, otter, and muskrat appeared as central characters in the quest for dry land. As the stories of each of the peoples go, the mammals were persuaded to dive into the water, convinced that the hero could make a continent from a handful of mud. First, the beaver made several attempts, returning each time, exhausted, with only water in his webbed paws. Next, the otter tried and, after several failed attempts, admitted that he, too, was stymied. Finally, the muskrat was given his turn, but his small size and limited strength forecasted his failure. Undaunted, the muskrat made his attempt. Initially unsuccessful, he made one last try and was gone for so long that the others feared his demise. Indeed, the last dive nearly cost him his life, but, as his exhausted body was pulled from the water, he unfurled his paw, revealing precious dirt.

The hero needed no more than this tiny sample. With his magical powers he blew across the grains and instantly they began growing. At first a small patch of land floated on the surface, but when the hero blew again the island grew more. Repeating this action, he caused the land to grow until it reached the dimensions of a continent. Elated with their success, the tiny band of heroes proceeded across the new land. It was at this time that the landscape was sculpted into mountains, plains, and valleys. Rivers were etched into the land and ponds grew into lakes. Forests were created from the driftwood of the previous world and grasslands were made anew.

Since the flood had destroyed everything, new animals had to be created. With alacrity the hero set to work shaping figures from the newly formed earth. He breathed into the mouth of each animal to let it share the spirit of breath. In this way, mammals, reptiles, and birds came into being. The hero marvelled at the variety inhabiting this new world, but creation still felt incomplete. While meditating, he discovered the source of his discontent and proceeded with his final act of creation, forming some clay in his own image and breathing into it. The inert mud stirred to life and the first man gained awareness. Likewise, the first woman was made from clay and only then did creation feel complete.

While no formal form of religious practice existed among the Plains Algonquians, both the community and the individual participated into numerous rituals. The main communal ceremony was the annual Sun Dance, which was held to coincide with midsummer. Personal ritualism centred on the stages experienced in the progression through life. In all aspects of ritual, prayer was crucial to spiritual fulfilment. Holy people, or shamans, conducted ceremonies and guided the participants through the intricacies of ritual.

Spirituality among the Plains Algonquians could accommodate outside elements. Its flexibility was illustrated by its response to the appearance of horses on the plains during the pre-contact period. The Blackfoot regarded the presence of horses as a gift from the Water spirit or the Thunder beings, while the Peigan described horses as the last creation of Naapii, the Blackfoot culture hero, before he left the people. Horse societies, along with their accoutrements of songs and rituals, appeared as these animals entered the sacred realm of dreams and visions. The Blackfoot expressed their reverence for horses by making room for them in their spiritual lives, independent of the Europeans who introduced them.

The world of the Plains Algonquians was saturated with spirits; they were the agents that held the universe together, existing on a gradient from the omnipotent Great Spirit to the ordinary ghosts of deceased people. A range of entities, with varying degrees of power, were the cause of change on a minor or grand scale, or they could intervene in the personal lives of individuals. All people strived to have encounters with spirits, and shamans specialized in mediating contact between them. Spiritual life within the community was not gender-exclusive, although certain rituals, like the vision quest, were more commonly practised by men than by women.

Individual spirituality was preoccupied with dreams and visions. Dreams presented the opportunity for direct contact with spirits by creating an avenue into the spirit world; encountering a deceased relative while awake was a dreaded possibility that inspired fear, but in the dreamtime the dreamer’s spirit met these disembodied souls as equals, thus negating any haunting experience. The spirits would enter the dreams of their living kin either just to visit or to transmit vital information. There was a random quality associated with these dreams, since the dreamer could not anticipate or control the encounters.

Visions, on the other hand, were deliberate attempts to contact the realm of spirits, to gain their insights, or to seek their counsel. During stressful times individuals sought certainty through visions and, with single-minded intent, purposely welcomed visitations. Receiving spiritual wisdom was accomplished through deprivation and exposure to the elements. Isolation from physical comfort expanded the limits of awareness, and, in this lucid state of dreaming without sleep, the seeker became receptive to the influences of spirits. Spiritual entities, for their part, would take pity on these vulnerable people and approach them to relieve their pain and suffering.

Seeking visions in times of distress was only one facet of this dialogue with spirits. The coming of age of an individual had its own ritual significance, and here spirit helpers again played an integral role. Vision quests were a rite of passage for adolescent youths. The candidate was cleansed in a ritual sweatbath and smudged with sweetgrass. Then, he or she was sequestered until discovered by a sympathetic spirit. Again, fasting and deprivation intensified the perceptions and allowed the individual to see past the limits of everyday reality. Spirit helpers, in this instance, dispensed guidance through visual representations and gifts of songs, prayers, personal adornments, and objects of power. Interpretation of the vision by an elder was necessary since the meaning contained therein was often disguised in allegory. Intense, life-long relationships developed between dreamer and guide that were the source of personal strength during moments of crisis.

The Sun Dance, as it is referred to by anthropologists, was a uniquely plains ceremony and was practised in one form or another by all resident cultures. Common traits included a ceremonial lodge made of cottonwoods and with a sacred centre pole; thirst and abstinence from food and water; a sponsor fulfilling a vow; offerings to the sun; and ritual torture. The appearance of the ceremonial lodge is reminiscent of the buffalo pounds: traps constructed as circular enclosures with a centre pole, but without the rafters. Indeed, buffalo were a recurring theme in the Sun Dances, their presence marked by such items as a painted buffalo skull used as an altar and songs and dances dedicated to buffalo spirits.

Cree and Ojibwa Sun Dances were more similar to each other than they were to the Blackfoot celebration. In the Blackfoot tradition, a woman was the main sponsor, while a man performed the same function among the Cree and Ojibwa. An additional element, for the Cree and Ojibwa, was the invitation to thunderbird spirits to alight on a nest supported by the centre pole. Thirst was a necessary part of the ceremony and could be quenched by rainwater. The Blackfoot did not call on thunderbird spirits and, because drinking water during the day was thought to induce rain, it was prohibited. However, during the night the ban was relaxed. Active participants were also expected to refrain from eating, and a general feast, or exchange of food, officially brought the ceremony to its conclusion. The offering to the Sun was common to all three groups and it generally took the form of bolts of coloured cloth tied to the centre pole.

Sacrifice was integral to the Sun Dance and its manifestation took the form of abstinence from food or water or ritual torture. The latter involved individuals who had made a vow or were being initiated into a society. They would have their bodies pierced on the chest and upper back and thongs would be set into the cuts. The front thongs were fastened to the centre pole and the rear ones to a buffalo skull. In time to drumbeats and singing, the people would dance towards the pole and then away, repeating the movement four times. All the while they would blow on a whistle made from a hollow bird bone. At the conclusion of their dance they would pull until the thongs broke free from the centre pole.

This ceremony so outraged religious and government officials of Canada in the 1880s that it was officially proscribed. Indian agents at various plains reserves tried replacing it with sports days and other secular events. Through the period of its prohibition, which lasted until 1951, there were attempts by Indians to revive it and in some instances it was practised in secret. When at last the restriction was lifted, the Sun Dance did not emerge in its original form, nor was it practised at all at its former locales. Many elements of the ceremony had changed; some were omitted, others forgotten, or the practitioners simply died. Although the evolution of the Sun Dance continues, its central theme remains intact. It is a communal religious ceremony integral to cultural identity and a symbol of the vitality of Plains Algonquian culture.

During the mid- to late-nineteenth century, a new wave of religious belief – Christianity – spread across the northern plains. The region was a popular destination for missionaries of all faiths. The objective of missionary work was to bring Christian civilization to a people deemed to be heathen, but, once established on Indian reserves, the churches developed a collaborative relationship with government and had the coercive powers of the state at their disposal. Often they became the eyes and ears of government and implemented its policies.

Catholic, Methodist, and Anglican missionaries enjoyed a near-monopoly of the mission field until the mid-twentieth century, when competing groups sent another wave of missionaries onto the reserves. Since the 1960s, denominations like the Latter-day Saints, and evangelical and charismatic movements like the Full Gospel Church and Baha’i, have enjoyed some success in converting reserve residents. In some communities, numerous religious groups are active (seven in the case of the Peigan, Blood, and Blackfoot reserves). As in the larger society, Indians have also begun to embrace “New Age” sects and cults, and many have abandoned all religion. In 1991 Statistics Canada reported that 14 percent of Indians chose the “no religion” option on the census form.