Religion

Traditionally, the Na-Dene recognized the existence of the souls or spirits of natural forces, animals, plants, land forms, and inanimate objects. They relied on religious leaders to ensure that adequate supplies of food would be secured and misfortune avoided, and the injured and sick were healed by individuals who used their own spiritual powers or directed the powers of other beings. Some Na-Dene believed in the possibility of reincarnation of human beings.

Today, the Na-Dene continue to have great reverence for the land and the natural world even if they do no longer pray or make offerings to spirits directly. In some areas native spiritual leaders, such as Slave and Dogrib “prophets,” practise traditional forms of healing, but in others evangelical Christian healers direct the Holy Ghost or God to help those who require assistance. Often, Jesus receives thanks for the arrival of a hindquarter of moose or a package of cranberries. Some, but not all, Na-Dene accept the Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul.

Missionary groups realized varying degrees of success in converting the Na-Dene in the nineteenth century. A Roman Catholic mission was established among the Chipewyan in 1844, and in the following two decades a number of Anglican and Catholic missions were established among the Chipewyan, Dogrib, Slave, Gwich’in, and Beaver. In general, the Roman Catholics were more successful in gaining converts in the Mackenzie region and a majority of the population in this region is at least nominally Catholic today. Visits by the Pope to Fort Simpson in 1984 and 1986 attracted thousands of Na-Dene from across the north.

The Gwich’in became strong adherents to the Anglican faith as a result of the missionary activities of Archdeacon McDonald and his successors, the Haida were evangelized by Methodists and Anglicans, and the Tlingit were exposed to the Russian Orthodox faith from an early date but few converted until the end of the nineteenth century. Presbyterians, the Salvation Army, and the Church of God recruited many Alaskan Tlingit, while the interior Tlingit were more likely to join the Anglican or Catholic churches. Catholics, Anglicans, and Baptists ran residential mission schools for native students, schools that were often intolerant of native traditions and languages and that, in some case, subjected students to the worst forms of abuse.

Over the last century, syncretic religious ceremonies have developed among the Carrier, Beaver, Slave, Dogrib, and other groups. Called in various regions “tea dance,” “prophet dance,” or “drum dance,” these ceremonies combine traditional and Christian beliefs and are led by an individual termed, in a rough translation of the various words used in different Athapaskan languages, “dreamer” (Beaver: na;tiè&; Alberta Slavey: nda;t; Kaska: ne;det&e). These words emphasize the importance of dreams among the the Na-Dene as a source of understanding.

Younger people are less involved in church activities, although this too is not universally the case. Some younger people are interested in traditional beliefs which offer a sense of native identity. Women are involved in all forms of religious activity. They often organize potlatches and are the most regular churchgoers. Some women, such as Ellen Bruce and Effie Linklater of Old Crow, Yukon, have been ordained as ministers in the Anglican Church. Others have become prophets of the syncretic tea dance or drum dance religion.