The Angnasheotik: an Account of the Invention of a Spiritual Entity Among the Ungava Eskimos
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Short Papers and Notes THE ANGNASHEOTIK: AN AC- an immediate personal judgement after COUNT OF THEINVENTION OF A death. SPIRITUALENTITY AMONG THE Where culture contact does not pro- UNGAVA ESKIMOS duce great stress, diffusion of religious The reactions of primitive peoples to beliefsmay go on either way.In contact with the western culture take a extreme instances the whole system of multitude of forms and involve a large religious beliefmay be transformed number of variables from both of the without anyvery evident changes in cultures concerned.Among the most other areas of the culture. In Samoa, for interesting are reactions that are evi- example, the congregational formof the denced in the realm of belief about the Christian religion was so exactly com- supernatural world. These may comein plementary to the existingeconomic, various ways and take various forms. political and social patterns that they If, for example, there is an active mis- underwent very little change on adop- sionaryeffort to transmit christian tion. belief, the response may vary from total Other kinds of response are observa- conversion and complete abandonment ble whenculture contact producesstress of old beliefs, or the fusion (or confu- in, or even disruption of, native society sion) of Christian and native beliefs, to and culture. These appear to take two the incorporation of some new element forms (a) theattempt to rationalize new in a native disguise. Where there is no and often painful experience with the missionary activity, conversion, even of use of familiar concepts about the su- single persons is understandably rare. pernatural or (b) the invention of new However, diffusion of aspects of chris- beliefsinvolving thesupernatural tian beliefeven to the pointwhere world. Thefist form was exemplifiedin native conceptions of the supernatural the response of the Sioux and Cree na- are modified,can take place through tions to the small-pox epidemic of the casual or secular contact. An example is 1870’s and the almost simultaneous dis- the transmission of many European appearance of the buffalo2. It was said superstitions to various Indian tribes by that the gods were displeased with men coureurs-de-bois. The traffic wasnot all and had sent the smallpox to punish in one directionand Roman Catholicism them and caused the buffalo to go un- inQuebec shows some Indian influ- derground never to return until men enced. Among those whotransmit west- were more virtuous. The second is ex- ern culture traits may be superstitious emplifiedin the familiar ghostdance and ignorant men and it is not unex- that swept through a number of North pected that the beliefs about the super- American Indian nations in 1889-903, natural world handed on by such per- and in the cargo cults of Melanesia and sons often emphasize the magical aspects Australia4, which,despite the spatial, of popular Christianbelief and some- temporal and cultural distances that times quite clearly belong to the rem- separate them, have essentially similar nants of medievalbelief in witchcraft elements. Both are products of heavily and sorcery that still persist inthe west- threatened cultures and promise super- ern culture. The term popular Christian natural aid to native peoples inthe belief is used here to include a number elimination of white domination and a of beliefs and practices thatare not return to the old way of life. articles of faith but which are ancient In the summer of 1956 a young Eskimo and widespread, e.g. the bibliomancy of named Joseph Partridge, a native of the an earlier day and thecommon belief in Fort Chimo area of Northern Quebec, 289 290 SHORT PAPERS AND NOTES brought to my attention somelocal tinued her search for her friend but beliefs about the spirit world and the ultimately went home without finding rather brisk relationshipsits inhabitants her. The woman who had been gather- are thought to enter into with mortals, ing wood was asked upon her return, if indicating that Eskimodemonism has she had seen any other woman out or been modified through culture contact if she had met Jacob’s sister.She said no by both the diffusion of certain popular, to both questions and when a check of western superstitions and the invention families revealed no one had been out of a supernatural entity. The term on the hill, it was concludedthat Jacob’s demonism is usedin this article to mean sister had met and talked with a spirit. belief in spirit entities of every kind According to Jacob, this encounter took from gods to demiurges no matter what place on the hill overlooking the grave- their attitudes to man or their relation- yard. ships with him are thought to be. 2. Once Jacob himself and another We were walking in the“new” grave- Eskimo boy about his own age named yard (which had in fact been in use for TommyGordon were out on the hill a number of years) and reading the in- behind the postcoasting on sleighs. scriptions on the crosses that marked the Jacob decided to go home and Tommy victims of the measles epidemic of 1952, went off up the hill for another ride. when Jacob suddenly remarked in his Shortly after, Tommy appeared at excellentcolloquial English thatthe Jacob’s house and told this tale: As he place was a favourite haunt of ghosts wassliding down the hill he saw a and none of the natives ever dared to skeleton coming up thehill toward him. venture there after dark. Hedecided it was “after” him and I expressed interest at once, for I was thereupon steered his sleigh into it, curious concerning the degree of per- knocked it down and continued on his sistence of traditional Eskimobeliefs way to the bottom of the hill and from about the supernatural world and their there ran home. use as an index of the amount of accul- 3. Jacob‘s father was down near the turation that had occurred. My obvious mouth of the Koksoak River at a fishing interest and my matter-of-fact accept- camp.He and two other men were ance of his statements seemedto re- sleeping in the Peterhead boat tied to assure Jacob; he had been watching me the shore. Theywere awakened by foot- closely to see how I would take such a steps on deck and thentwo Angnasheo- statement from a youngman, who, tik(Jacob’s spelling) came below and despite his Eskimo birth, had had the demanded fish saying that if they were advantage of education to the11th grade given fish they would go away and do in an Ottawa high school. Once he saw no harm. Jacob’s father (Jimmy Par- that I did not mean to ridiculeor dispute tridge) and his companions were very his assertions he appeared to be quite frightened and gavethem all the fish eager to talk and he related the follow- they had upon which the Angnasheotik ing tales: went away and were seen no more. I 1. One winter his sister was out have not found this term anywhere in seeking a woman who had gone to the the literature. Miss Helen Wiltshire,the willow flats for wood. She met a second school teacher at Chimo, atthe time woman whomshe thought she knew and reported having heard it in Frobisher asked her if she had seen the woman Bay. whowas gathering wood. The second 4. Inthe fourth and last story, woman replied that she was just over Jacob’s sister Eva was sleeping under a the hill. Jacob’s sister then started up mosquito net in a wood-framed tent in the hill and pausing soon after the en- which there were two other women. The counter to look back at the informant, twowomen went out for water. An found that she had disappeared despite Angnasheotikcame in and heaped up the openness of the country and the lack pots and pans in one corner and then of placesto hide. Jacob’s sister con- went out and locked [sic] the door. Eva SHORT PAPERSNOTES AND 291 laughed because the Angnasheotik did white faces and black clothes. According not see her and when the two women to his account although the Eskimo are came back she told them whathad hap- much troubled by them, the Indians are pened and they were so frightened that evenmore troubled “because the In- they did not go out again that night. dians live only in tents”. At the end of this tale, I asked Jacob Daisy Watt who speaks quite fluent to explainthe termAngnasheotik which English, was voluble when I asked her I had assumed from the context to be to tell me about them. She was as curi- an inhabitant of the spirit world.He ous as Big Jacob about my sources of then wrote the word in my notebookand information but seemed quite satisfied translated it as “going for our women”. when I told her I had known of them Heexplained that bothEskimo and for some time. Daisy saidvery definitely Indians are bothered by these spirits that they are the spirits of white men who peer in windows, lurk about tents and that they had thin faces and wore and sometimes throw stones at people flat hats, white shirts and black suits at night. The Indians referred to are the [sic]. She was most insistent that they northernmost band of the Naskopi who chaseonly women and do not bother used to come to Chimo regularly every men. She described one aspect of their summer, from the vicinity of Fort Mac- behavior thus: Awoman is sleeping, Kenzie. In theautumn of 1957 they were she opens her eyes and happens to look relocated at Knob Lake and no longer out the window; if an Angnasheotik is make the annual trips.