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Originally Posted by sentient
Taivaannaula:
When Christianity came – folk got these forces quite mixed up with the old beliefs in guardian spirits – here the old Saami bloke goes to the ‘devil’ (he had heard of) - to discuss better luck in fishing:
https://kuvat.huuto.net/v1/6c08/ac6c...97834358-m.jpg
This is also why I really enjoyed "The Gospel According to the Papuans"
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That's right. There is special protocol to follow that ensures the right permissions, and that is how the human place in the environment ensures respect and well-being of all. Not to take what you want, but give and take within the communion. Now days people are forgetting, so they don't understand anymore, they don't have the words and they are not taught the ways. The power is two sided and the knowledge can go either way, so there are secrets which have to be earned, but the rites are not practiced, so you can't know who to trust it with. The secret is not an isolated thing, but integral of the rest of the culture. When the culture is disrupted the knowledge is lost. When the knowledge is lost, we don't know the ecology. When we don;t know the ecology, we disrupt the ecology. When we disrupt the ecology, the species are lost.
By preserving the spirit you preserve the thing and vice versa. We are not too concerned with the individual animal body we hunt, but we don't go about killing everything and we shouldn't really be killing disrespectfully for sport and fun, because through the respect of the totem of the spirit, we are concerned with taking care of all species and the natural features of their environment.