Title
Spiritual, Not Religious; Dene, Not Indigenous: Tłı̨chǫ Dene Discourses of Religion and Indigeneity
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2017
Department 1
Religious Studies
Abstract
During a particularly long late-winter cold snap in the Northwest Territories, Canada, with daily temperatures reaching -35 degrees Fahrenheit, I witnessed a Tłı̨chǫ Dene man take a bucket of ash from his wood stove, walk down a snowmobile track to the frozen lake behind his home, and pour the ash into a neat pile on the ice. He explained to me that a deceased relative, a medicine man, taught him that doing this while asking the Creator for warmer weather would thaw the ice and hasten a warm front. I asked an elder with whom I had been spending time how ash on the lake would affect the weather, thinking I had stumbled upon a glimpse into pre-contact Dene religion. (excerpt)
Recommended Citation
Walsh, David S. “Spiritual, Not Religious; Dene, Not Indigenous: Tłı̨chǫ Dene Discourses of Religion and Indigeneity.” In The Brill Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s). Edited by Greg Johnson and Siv Ellen Kraft. Boston: Brill, 2017. 204-220.
Comments
Originally published in The Brill Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s)