Yupik Shamanism

The Yup'ik of western and south-western Alaska, around the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta and Bristol Bay, were animists. The shaman was the central figure of religious life and the middleman between spirits and people, working through music, dance and masks.

The Yup'ik believed that the great sea and land mammals they lived on understood human speech and demanded respect, so hunting followed rules to honour and appease their spirits. The qasgiq, the men's communal house, was the ceremonial centre; the shaman told carvers how to make the masks worn in its dances, and the masks were destroyed after use. The Bladder Festival and the Messenger Feast were among the great ceremonies.