By the above discussion, we can call Canada a
multicultural country. It contains several groups and races with different
cultural context, mutually flourishing and exchanging one another harmoniously
and indiscriminately. Health practice is one of the components of culture and
every race has their own custom for their health practice. In the context of
transcultural health, we pick up the aboriginal culture regarding the custom
and tradition of their health practice. To accomplish that task, we choose four
articles from two different sources: internet and encyclopedia. The way we got
the articles: we used the ‘goggle’ search machine to search the web site for
the key word ‘aboriginal traditional healing’ and then click on ‘search’; we
used another key word ‘aboriginal food’ and ‘aboriginal traditional medicine’;
thus, we got four articles regarding aboriginal health practice based on faith
and spirituality, traditional medicine and food. We got the book ‘Encyclopedia
of Canada’s People’, from where we pick up one of the four articles.
From the four articles about Aboriginal health I pick up
one, titled ‘In the Spirit of Healing and Wellness’, found in the web address: www.ahwsontario.ca/publication.
From this article we will try to highlight on aboriginal health practice based
on faith and spirituality, traditional medicine and food habit.
Faith and spirituality grow in a race day-by-day depending on the demand
and need of the community undoubtedly for the well being of the people. Faith
is not a logical aspect; it is based on myth and fantasy of human mind. Modern
psychology finds out the significant role of fantasy for the soundness of human
mind and body. In that point of view spiritual and faith based healing and
wellness play a great role in the health practice culture for the Aboriginal
individuals, families, communities and nations. Depending on geographical and
demographical classification Aboriginal community has several divisions and
subdivisions. All most all classes hold the nearly similar ideas in respect of
spirituality and faith. Ancient Shaman faith has a great influence on the faith
of almost all classes of Aborigines. Algonquian is one of the races of
Aboriginal community, believe in ‘transformers’, the great powerful creator of
earthly landscape, which could be recounted only during the winter months, when
formidable spiritual agencies were considered to be underground or asleep. Origin
myths, along with other folk beliefs, endowed the natural landscape with
mythical figure and symbolic appeal. Even potentially threatening spirits
bestow benefits if approached in a respectful manner. Here the benefits refer
to the wellness of physical and mental health of the people in the community.
In on going process of spiritual practice, possibly the spiritual healer class
evolved in the community, who are mystical in power and accomplishment of
physical and mental healing, also dress, eat, sleep and behave in the mystical
ways. Rites of divination using bones, also known as scapulimancy, were
practiced, and taboos existed regarding wastages of resources and respectful
threatening of animal bones. Storytelling, whether of a mythic character or
based on events recounted from memory, often focused on the acquisition and
control of power, the power of spirit. Power might be obtained in several ways:
by birth, through visionary experience, or by some vicissitude of nature. For
example, a child born with a cowl was considered to exhibit special aptitudes.
Certain objects, because of their strange appearance, were viewed as capable of
conferring good luck in specific pursuits. Among many groups, stones and clay
concretions were considered the manufacture of little wild people who lived
near water or on hilltops and could be used to divine the future. Not all
powers were viewed as helpful, however.
A possessor of dangerous, unpredictable power was termed a buoin among
the Ojibwa or a puwowin in the Maritimes. All these facts of faith directly or
indirectly influence the system of traditional spiritual healing system, the
part of their health care system. These are the history of faith and
spirituality of the Aboriginal people. What’s going on today? Do all first
nation people give up their faith and fantasy, coming in contact with modernism
and technological breakthrough? The answer could be no, in a word. They are
still practicing the system of healing based on ancient faith, made
organization and foundation of healing, open to all, by taking the help of
modern technological advancement. Let us highlight on the fact of today; what
they are doing, regarding the traditional health practice; how they organize
their facts of traditional healing system.
The Aboriginal Healing and wellness
strategy is guided by a Joint Steering Committee (JSC), composed of
representatives of the Metis, First Nations, off-reserve Aboriginal
organizations and four provincial ministries, the JSC decides policies and program
guidelines, approved grant funding, and determines program readiness for
implementation funding. Co-chaired by an Aboriginal and government
representatives, the JSC is comprised of members of the following
organizations:
Ø
Association of Iroquois and Indians
Ø
Grand Council Treaty #3
Ø
Metis Nation of Ontario
Ø
Nishnawbe-Aski Nation
Ø
Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres
Ø
Ontario Metis Aboriginal Association
Ø
Ontario Native Women’s Association
Ø
Six Nations of the Grand River
and Temagami First Nation
Ø
Union of Ontario Indians
Ø
Chiefs of Ontario (Ex-officio)
The above mentioned Aboriginal organization preserve the
rights of continuing traditional healing system for their health practice.
Aboriginal people have mentionable and specific history of
accomplishments and achievements in the area of agriculture, medicine,
spirituality, inventions and community living. They influence everyone’s daily
life and little recognition has been given to the accomplishments to their
community. For example, one of the most widely used skin ointments in the world
was discovered by the Aboriginal people. The material was colourless and they
used it to human and animal skin to protect the wounds. The material stimulates
the healing and keep the skin moist. They also used it to lubricate the moving
parts of machines and tools. Today, we know this product as “Petroleum
Jelly”. The heritage of Aboriginal
community was rich. Prior to our modern civilization, natural sources basically
plant world was the supreme provider of medicine for their health care system.
Till today they keep the system alive in their alternative health practice by
the assistance of the public funding. Here we can cite an example of an
effective medicine comes from their tradition for the treatment of cold: Jan
Longboat is a Mohawk (Turtle Clan) from the six nations of the Grand River. She is an herbalist who works with and is
knowledgeable of traditional medicine plants. Ms. Longboat teaches The Circle
of Life Healing Model at Mohawk College. She also teaches traditional Native
Healing Practices with the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. A
traditional healer, Ms. Longboat also works at the Anishnawbe Health Centre in
Toronto. The following medicines are traditionally
used prior to and during the "cold time". Burdoc Root is a
traditional medicinal root used to cleanse the blood for the long winter
season. Traditional healers prescribe the root just before the winter season.
The root is made into a from first-year burdock when the medicine is strongest. The tea is then taken for a 28-day period --
from the new moon to the full moon -- the purification cycle. Burdock Root is
abundant throughout Ontario. Because of its large size one or two roots are
sufficient to last a full year.
Traditional
healers also suggest using Mullein or Coltsfoot at the onset of the cold time.
Both are considered respiratory medicines which act as natural vaporizers. A
pot of this medicine is kept on the stove or fire all winter long so that the
whole family can breathe its vapours or it can be taken as a tea. It heals the
mucous membranes and keeps them moist.
The food listing for
Aboriginal people is long and amazing. They collected them directly from
nature, animal protein by hunting animals, carbohydrate by farming grain. Their
food menu is very rich in nutritious value. For example, iron is an essential
nutrient of our body, hemoglobin of erythrocyte is mainly composed of iron;
without iron our body cell cannot get oxygen. Iron is especially important for
young women, babies and toddlers. Many traditional foods are very rich in iron.
Ø Aboriginal people
get highest sources of iron (40-70mg Fe/100gm) are dry meat from narwhal and
beluga, fish and animal blood, liver from seal, beluga and Canada goose.
Ø Very high sources of iron (18-29 mg Fe
/100gm) are meat from seal and walrus, liver from moose and caribou, stomach
and tongue from caribou.
Ø High sources of
iron (5-10mg Fe/100gm) are meat from moose, caribou, muskox, rabbit, mussels,
geese and ducks.
Ø Good sources of
iron (1-3mg Fe/100gm) are flesh from pork, beef, chicken, fish and clams. For
healing wounds and fighting infections, we need zinc.
Studies in
Northern Aboriginal communities have found that people are getting enough zinc
in their diets. More zinc was provided by traditional food than by imported
market food. Some sources of zinc rich food are given below:
Ø Highest source
(45mg Zn/100gm) of zinc is seal eyes.
Ø High sources of
zinc (2-5 mg/100g) are fish head, liver, eggs and skin, seal meat and liver,
breaded seal intestine, rabbit meat, beaver meat, bear meat and Canada goose
meat etc.
Ø Very high sources
(6-9mg/100gm) are polar bear meat, moose meat, Canada goose liver and
intestine, beluga skin and meat, narwhal skin and meat and seal pup meat.
From the above
study of Aboriginal food, we can draw the conclusion by the fact that their
food is full of nutritious value and hygienic also and they are more nutritious
than market processed food.
This research paper is written
on the health practice or health care system of Aboriginal people based on
faith and spirituality, traditional medicine and food. We get materials and
idea for the above-mentioned three strengths from the article “In the Spirit of
Healing and Wellness” found in the web address of www.ahwsontario.ca/publication.
The article provides lots of information but it does not give sufficient
materials and points about Aboriginal traditional food. It provides information
about traditional medicine but the local Aboriginal terminology for their
traditional medicine is absent from the article. Culture is an ever-changing
spontaneous flow of stream. The core essence of culture never is changed if the
public accepts it morally; only the external feature keeps changing from time
to time. It is also true for Aboriginal culture, where health practice as a
part of culture does not alter its objective feature but its physical feature
gets new shape by using modern technological tools.
Aboriginals:
Algonquians/Eastern woodlands, Encyclopedia of Canada’s People, University of
Toronto Press (2000), Toronto, (p. 14).
Longboat,
Jan (January, 1996). In the Spirit of
Healing and Wellness. Aboriginal Healing & wellness strategy.
Ahsontario.ca.
http://www.ahwsontario.ca/publications/vvol1-No1.htm#4 (January 16,1996).
Robelin, G.
(November, 2002). Healing Words.
http://www.ahf.ca/english-pdf/newsletter_2003_Spring.pdf
(March 2, 2003).
Blondin, G.
(December 13, 1996) . Traditional Food. Cine.ca.
http://www.cine.mcgill.ca/TF/index.htm
(August 26, 2003).
On October 27th, 2003,
Monday we, the six members’ group reached the centre at 3:30 pm by public
transportation. The centre is located at 439 Dundas Street East, southwest
corner of Dundas Street East at Parliament Street. It is accessible, and we got
there by subway train and streetcar, got off at the intersection of Dundas E
and Parliament St. The centre is a pale yellow, fancy two-storied building,
situated on 30,000 sq. feet area. The parking lot for visitors and
employee is located at rear side of the building, occupying almost 2500 sq.
feet area. The hours of operation of the centre is from 9 am to 5 pm on regular
basis but it has different time schedule for special weekly, monthly and yearly
program. Receptionist of the centre referred us to Ms. Shauna Lapatak, Manager,
Aboriginal Skills and Development Training Coordinator. She helped us to visit
the different sections of the centre and explained us everything elaborately.
The information we accumulated from the visit can be summarized in the following
way.
The purposes or missions of the centre are as follows:
Ø
The centre tries to provide various opportunities to the native people
through specific cultural programs, such as, spiritual healing session.
Ø
Some elaborate and meaningful assessment and evaluation are conducted in
the community by the centre.
Ø
The centre provides professional
training and employs Aboriginal people in cultural, social services, industry
and technology sector.
Ø
The organization sometimes works with other same type of organizations
and agencies in joint collaboration.
Ø
It creates new business opportunity and solves the problems of existing
business of the native people.
Ø
Try to upgrade the professional skills of the human resources.
The centre has extensive and multipurpose objectives for
the native population. In order to serve those purposes they formulate enormous
constructive programs within their socio-cultural environment. Following are
the main programs performed in the centre all the year round:
Ø
Social
Ø
Overnight
Ø
Drop-in
Ø
Health
Ø
Special Projects
This centre actually serves the people of Aboriginal
background in the Toronto Metropolitan area. From North-western Territory,
Yukon and Nunavat, many Aboriginal
people are rehabilitated in the Toronto metropolitan area; they have several
socio-cultural and financial problems. The Toronto Council Fire tries to serve
that population as much as possible by its multipurpose activities. As a
non-profit organization, the centre meets the population it serves. The centre
has promise to offer counseling, material assistance and other direct services
to Aboriginal people and to encourage and enhance spiritual and personal
growth. In order to achieve that goal they established the following services
in the social sector:
Ø
Aboriginal Skills Development & Training (ASDT)
Ø
Literacy & basic Skills
Ø
Cultural Activities
Ø
Youth complex
For literacy and basic skills the goal of the centre is to
improve and develop reading, writing and mathematics skills. Following are the
elements of basic skills and literacy:
Ø
To read a newspaper
Ø
To write a letter
Ø
To read stories
Ø
To write stories
Ø
To fill up a form
Ø
To make recipes
Ø
To do banking
Ø
To apply for a job
The council fire is running a food bank as part of social
services. We visit the food bank, consisting factory prepared food as well as
traditional native dried foodstuffs.
The centre is
trying to maintain the cultural integrity of the individual by developing
different services and accumulating significant ideas from the people through
the democratic process, which is the heart of an organization. Following
examples clarify the objectives of the centre in terms of cultural integrity:
Ø Life long care
liaison coordination: this program develops and identifies proper cultural
programs, community support and professional services. Specific attention is
given to the Aboriginal seniors, physically challenged people and chronically
ill with special needs.
Ø Aboriginal
healing and wellness program: this program governs the healing and wellness
needs of the Aboriginal people. They design and promote the culture-based
activities to promote healthy lifestyle, to reduce violence and to encourage
healing.
Ø Special social
services: the centre has ability to host Traditional Wakes/funeral on request
of the people. It also has capability to provide help to families wishing to
make other service arrangements.
We
gathered lots of information and knowledge about the Aboriginal culture and
heritage by visiting Toronto council Fire. The services and management of the
centre are well organized. It is a non-profit organization, running by public
assistance and partially by members’ subscription. It is a unique place for
visit no doubt.
INTRODUCTORY APPROACH OF CULTUR
One day Confucius was drinking a cup of tea, sitting quiet
at his academy, surrounded by a group of students. One of the students asked
him, “Dear Sir, could you let us know what are you thinking right at this
moment”. The teacher smiled at the students, “Look at the cup, it is made of
glass, its vertical partition divides it into two parts, one part of it is
filled with tea and other part is empty, the filled part is for tea only; I
have no choice with that part right now but the part which is empty, I do have
lots of choices with that, it is that part which I can use as my mind wishes.
In the same way, we do not have any choice with the time, which is preoccupied
but the time, absolutely free from all preconditioning and preoccupation is the
best part of our life, the true leisure. O my friends and colleagues, culture
is such a subtle and delicate accomplishment of mind that is developed and
cherished in that part of our lives”.
Adam Crabtree, a prominent psychiatric and theoretical psychologist of
metro Toronto asserted in one of his mentionable publications “Trance Zero”
that culture of a race or a nation is developed in the mythopoetic region of
unconscious mind, transmitted through narrow passage of human consciousness and
then explored in the state of superficial mind or external world. He exclaimed
that culture is nothing but a trance state of a group of people, where the
members can have chance to get into different dimension of mind by narrowing
their consciousness.
At some state of the existence of
life all life forms share the same particular set of feelings; sense of
security and sense of being are two examples among them. There is no doubt; all
humans share the same feelings. At that point of view, all forms of cultures
have the same objectives, only their external features are different. Human,
the extraterrestrial being has been trapped into the sphere of time and space,
embedded to mortality, suffering from overwhelming characteristics, motivated to
perform changes over their accomplishments periodically. In that way of
oscillatory performance cultures continuously changes their external features.
Diversity is the natural beauty but discrimination is the man made hell. We
need cultural diversity, no doubt, question is, do the cultures able to survive
with their diversity in the environment of mass globalization and information
highway of this century! Significance and objectives of Aboriginal culture in
this context, is same as any other modernized culture of the world. Native and
tribal existence of human race is the proof of chronological evolution of human
physique as well as psyche. Evolution is the natural reality, which proves the
wholeness of life. On this context Aboriginal culture opens an extended field
for researchers in terms of information, knowledge and wisdom.
Religion is the basic and fundamental demand of human
mind. It is like a small piece of land in the ever-extended sky where he can
stay and take breath for a while. It is like calm and cool shade of a tree
where he somehow reconciles the thirst of his soul. The supreme ingredient of
religion is noting but faith, one of the mighty foundations of human race. If
you assume religion a drama, God is the supreme and steering character of it.
It is the most popular structural model for all religions around the world.
From the sparks of above commentary about religion, it is not difficult to
realize why atheism, the proposition of frustration and aimlessness is so
unpopular among the people. Aboriginal religion is some sort of theism,
believes is plurality of God, supernatural force or spiritual governor.
Whatever the physical shaping of Aboriginal religion is, the infrastructure and
objectives of it is intrinsically similar to all other religions around the
globe.
Through the religion as a part of culture, through the mythological
views and proposition, the way the Aboriginal people shape their group mind,
community culture and social communication can be summarized in the following
way:
A.
Mythic Traditions
• Native religion can be thought of as consisting of two main
elements:
• mythic traditions.
• religious ceremonies and practices.
• Myth traditions very important source of meaning and content to
native religion.
• In broadest terms, myths can be classified into three categories but
with elements that
frequently overlap:
• creation myths.
• institutional myths.
• ritual myths.
• Category of religious myth can tend to blend into genre of
folk-tale.
• One shared feature of both myth and folk tale is frequent presence
of ethical or moral
principles or applications that sanction certain attitudes and
behaviors and or prohibit
other behaviors as taboo.
• May be helpful to discuss each of three types of native religious
myth in turn.
1. Creation, or origin myths:
• Deal with cosmogony, describing the origin of cosmos and how
elements of cosmos
relate to one another.
• Can be further classified into:
• creation myths proper
• trickster myths
• culture-hero myths
•
Example:
• The earth-diver myth common to eastern woodland and northern plain
Indians.
• Deity called the Great Spirit, or the Transformer typically dives,
or orders
animals to dive into the primeval waters to bring mud to surface from
which the deity forms the earth.
• Trickster myths:
• Deity depicted as an often comical (sometimes animal) character who
perpetrates
pranks or other episodes that account for details or features observed
in nature.
• Culture hero myths:
• Are also a subset of creation myths.
• Deity (Transformer) takes human form with superhuman capabilities
and
performs feats of strength or prowess that result in the world
acquiring its
observed features and characteristics.
• Thus,
• Creation myths account for origins:
• Human origins are frequently accounted for as the Transformer
changes
various animals into humans.
• Also account for celestial bodies such as the sun and the moon.
• And significant elements of human experience such as death.
2.
Institutional myths
• The northern Plains Indians have a myth accounting for the sun dance
ceremony; the Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibwa.
• Iroquois have myths explaining the origin and significance of sacred
medicine
bundles.
3. Ritual myths
• Ritual myths are detailed stories that preserve the precise
ceremonies and rituals for
particular religious observances.
• Example:
• Vital rites of passage such as death, birth and tribal initiation.
• Ritual myths also stipulate the requisite rites of preparation for
particular ceremonies.
• Examples:
• Purification rites, sweatlodge ceremonies, prescriptions for limited
sexual
abstinence.
B. Elements of Native Worldview as Discerned in
Religious Terms
thoroughly imbued with the sacred and the mystic.
• In modern terms, the separation of the natural and the supernatural
did not exist.
• Thus:
• Natural elements such as rocks, trees, lakes, etc. could take on
mystic significance and
spiritual power, including personality and action.
• Sacred objects dedicated to religious ceremonies were also invested
with mystic and
spiritual power and meaning.
• Some kind of mythic understanding of the afterlife quite common:
• Place of the dead usually to be found at great removal from the
realm of the living and
reached by a long and/or perilous journey after death.
• In terms of cosmography (the physical shape of creation):
• World frequently thought of as having circular surface with a
dome-like overworld
and a primeval underworld.
• Levels are joined by some form of vertical axis.
• Represented by columns of smoke, trees, lodge pillars, etc..
• These were paths to the overworld.
• Whirlpools and caves represented mysterious gateways to the
netherworld (cite
example of grotto at Rushing River Provincial Park).
10.259/3: Aboriginal “Religion” in Canada Pg. 4
• Shape of native cosmography means that natives lived in world of six
cardinal directions:
• The four corners of the world plus the zenith and nadir.
• Sacred leadership tended entrusted to a variety of persons, most
notable of which is the
shaman.
• Shaman leaders acted as healers, prophets, diviners.
• Were the custodians of the religious myths.
• Frequently were the persons who officiated at religious ceremonies
but not always.
• In some traditions the shamanic roles of healer, prophet and diviner
were combined in the
same person.
• In other traditions they were separated into distinct functionaries.
• The shaman-healers recognized both natural and spiritual (they would
not make such a
separation) causes to illness, and healing methods varied appropriately.
• Individuals and also entire communities could be seen as suffering
ill or even fatal effects
from having offended the spiritual sensibility of game animals, sacred
tribal objects, or
natural features or phenomena.
• Was often the shaman’s role to placate such a spiritual sense of
offence, under the
guidance of his own tutelary (guiding, guarding or “teaching”) spirit.
• Shaman not the only person to have a tutelary spirit.
• At one time, the males of most Canadian tribal groups undertook a
guardian spirit quest,
often at puberty, but also at other times.
• Men would isolate themselves in remote areas
• Would pray, fast and undergo purification rites in hope of receiving
a vi sion of, or
spiritual encounter with, a guardian spirit—often in the form of an
animal, or a
character out of the tribe’s mythology.
• Such experiences then resulted in a beneficent proprietary interest
of the
guardian spirit over the actions and especially the hunting activities
of the
individual concerned – gave the individual the benefit of a kind of
providence lent
by his spirit-guide-guardian.
C. Summation
possessed a vigorous religious imagination and thorough sense of the
spiritual.
• While it is true that the earliest Christians to encounter this
reality failed utterly to
comprehend it, others followed who were much more sophisticated in
their approach and
understanding of native religion.
• An example of this more constructive perspective is the encounter of
the Jesuits and the
Hurons.