Translate

Friday, February 19, 2010

Spirit world

A ghostly spirit in the pool?

A couple of weeks ago I took a picture of Alex looking up from under the water. His white boat gave the impression of a ghost in the pool. That got me thinking about Inuit religious beliefs.

Their religious tradition was animistic, that is that everthing was imbued with a spirit. Harmony with the spirit world was maintained through the wearing of amulets, the observance of a vast number of taboos, and participation in a number of ceremonies relating primarily to the hunt, food, birth, death, the life cycle, and the seasonal round.

We might sat that's simplistic.

When the Inuit make a kill it is treated with respect and thanks given to the animal spirit for giving up its life to provide food for nourishment. I don't call that simplistic, that's reverence for all forms of life, something I think western culture is sometimes lacking.

Seems it is more about spirituality than religion.

No comments:

Post a Comment