Athabaskanism

Athabaskanism is the traditional animism and shamanism of the Athabaskan peoples of interior Alaska, whom the Tanana, Gwichʼin and others represent. All creatures and some objects were thought to have active spirits, and an animal whose spirit was offended might stay away from the hunters. Strict rules therefore governed how animals were killed and treated; a man who killed a wolf, for example, should apologise to it before touching the body.

The shaman was the central religious figure. He or she guarded against evil spirits, diagnosed illness and restored the sick, and could read a scorched shoulder blade to find game when it was scarce.

A winter potlatch, above all the funeral potlatch, marked the dead man’s departure from the world. Russian Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican missionaries converted the Athabaskans, and shamanic practice was suppressed.